Abstract
BackgroundThere were limited studies on the effect of skin temperature and local blood flow using kinesio tape (KT) adhered to the skin in different taping methods. This study aimed to determine the short-term effect of KT and athletic tape (AT) on skin temperature in the lower back and explore the possible effect of different taping methods (Y-strip and fan-strip taping) on local microcirculation.Materials and MethodsTwenty-six healthy participants completed the test-retest reliability measurement of the infrared thermography (IRT), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and standard error of measurement (SEM) were calculated to evaluate the reliability. Then, 21 healthy participants received different taping condition randomly for 5 times, including Y-strip of kinesio taping (KY), fan-strip of kinesio taping (Kfan), Y-strip of athletic taping (AY), fan-strip of athletic taping (Afan), and no taping (NT). Above taping methods were applied to the participants’ erector spinae muscles on the same side. Skin temperature of range of interest (ROI) was measured in the taping area through IRT at pre taping and 10 min after taping. Additionally, participants completed self-perceived temperature evaluation for different taping methods through visual analog scaling. One-way repeated-measured analysis of variance was used to compare the temperature difference among different taping methods. Bonferroni test was used for post hoc analysis.ResultsThere was a good test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.60–0.92; SEM = 0.33; and MD = 0.91) of the IRT. Significant differences were observed in the short-term effect on skin temperature among all different taping methods (p = 0.012, F = 3.435, and ηp2 = 0.147), post hoc test showed a higher significantly skin temperature difference in Kfan taping compared to no taping (p = 0.026, 95% CI = 0.051–1.206); However, no significant differences were observed among self-perceived temperature (p = 0.055, F = 2.428, and ηp2 = 0.108).ConclusionThis study showed that the fan-strip of KT increased significantly the skin temperature of the waist after taping for 10 min. The application of KT may modify the skin temperature of the human body and promote local microcirculation, although it remained unclear for the real application.
Highlights
Kinesio tape (KT) is an elastic adhesive skin tape, which has been reported to increase local blood and lymphatic flow, promote proprioceptive input, enhance muscle strength, suppress pain, improve stability, and improve range of motion (Ekiz et al, 2015; Stryker et al, 2016; Wozniak-Czekierda et al, 2017; Bischoff et al, 2018; Kasawara et al, 2018; Gulpinar et al, 2019)
The inter-rater agreement for skin temperature measurement in region of interest (ROI) was good (ICC = 0.82, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.60–0.92; standard error of measurement (SEM) = 0.33; and minimal difference (MD) = 0.91). (Table 2)
There was no significant difference among the room temperature (p = 0.329, F = 1.152, and ηp2 = 0.054), humidity (p = 0.453, F = 0.837, and ηp2 = 0.040), and air pressure of the laboratory (p = 0.142, F = 2.060, and ηp2 = 0.093), and participants’ body temperature (p = 0.891, F = 0.143, and ηp2 = 0.007) for different taping methods (Table 3)
Summary
Kinesio tape (KT) is an elastic adhesive skin tape, which has been reported to increase local blood and lymphatic flow, promote proprioceptive input, enhance muscle strength, suppress pain, improve stability, and improve range of motion (Ekiz et al, 2015; Stryker et al, 2016; Wozniak-Czekierda et al, 2017; Bischoff et al, 2018; Kasawara et al, 2018; Gulpinar et al, 2019) It differs from traditional athletic tape (AT) which is an inelastic adhesive skin tape that functions to provide fixed protection (Kase et al, 2003; De Ridder et al, 2015). This study aimed to determine the short-term effect of KT and athletic tape (AT) on skin temperature in the lower back and explore the possible effect of different taping methods (Y-strip and fan-strip taping) on local microcirculation
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