Effectiveness of Different types of Kinesio Taping Application on Calf Muscle Fatigue in Healthy Collegiate Athletes: An Experimental Study

Introduction: Fatigue is a highly common phenomenon among athletes in life and sports. It results in decreased muscle strength, pain, decreased range of motion, balance, and agility and increased risk of injury, which ultimately results in decreased sports performance of the athlete. Many studies have examined the effects of Kinesio Taping (KT) on muscle fatigue. However, the effect of diffe rent types of application of KT has been rarely reported. Aim: This study aimed to fill this research gap by examining the effects of different types of applications of KT on muscle fatigue. Materials and Methods: A three-arm parallel pretest-post-test experimental design was used. Forty-five collegiate athletes were randomly assigned to three groups. Group A received Y shaped application of KT, Group B received I shaped application of KT and Group C was the control group without KT. The number of heel rises was measured before and after taping in all the groups, using a habermeter and metronome. The taping was done following the principles of kenso kaze. Results: Group A (Y-shaped) number of heel rises significantly increased 18.76% (p-.001) after applying KT. Group B (I-shaped) results shows non-signifi cant effect on heel rises(p-.136). Conclusion: Y-shaped application of KT over the calf muscle is effective in reducing fatigue.