What is the effect and mechanism of kinesiology tape on muscle activity?

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of kinesiology tape, anesthesia, and kinesiology tape along with anesthesia, on motor neuron excitability.

Participants included 20 healthy men aged 20-35 years, who were examined over 5 sessions.

The five experimental sessions included: control without applying the kinesiology tape or Eutectic Mixture of Local Anesthetics (EMLA); treatment only with EMLA; only kinesiology tape application; only sham tape application; and treatment with kinesiology tape and EMLA.

The H-reflex recruitment curve of the soleus and lateral gastrocnemius was recorded by a blinded assessor in the 5 separate sessions randomly assigned with 48 h washout periods. The major H-reflex parameters include: the H_max/M_max ratio, the H-reflex threshold stimulation intensity (H_th), the intensity of maximum H-reflex (Intensity_Hmax), the H-reflex ascending slope (H_slp), and the H-reflex ascending slope fixed into the first three points (first H_slp).

The H-reflex parameters (H slope, first H_slp, H_th, and Intensity_Hmax) were facilitated by application of the kinesiology tape with and without EMLA; however, EMLA inhibited the H-reflex parameters (H_max/M_max ratio, H_slp, first H_slp, and H_th) in both the soleus and lateral gastrocnemius. The sham tape did not alter the H-reflex recruitment curve parameters. The statistical model revealed a significant difference between the kinesiology tape and the sham tape and control sessions, between kinesiology tape-EMLA and EMLA, and between kinesiology tape-EMLA and control session.

Results suggest that the kinesiology tape facilitates the muscle activity and the underlying mechanism on the gastrosoleus motor neuron pool involves the cutaneous receptors.