The effect of deloading tape on medial gastrocnemius muscle fascicle behaviour during dynamic exercise

This study examined the effect of diamond deloading tape on medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscle behaviour during exercise in healthy adults (n = 27). A randomised cross-over trial assessed the effect of tape (no-tape, sham-tape and deload-tape) on ankle and MG fascicle kinematics during three heel raise-lower exercises [double leg (DL), single leg (SL) and loaded single leg (LSL)]. There was no effect of tape on standing fascicle length (FL) or pennation angle (PA), or ankle or knee joint angle. There was a significant effect of tape on ankle kinematics for all exercises. Both the deload-tape and sham-tape resulted in less ankle plantar flexion but had no effect on dorsiflexion. There was a significant effect of tape on FL change for the SL and LSL exercise. Compared to no-tape, the deload-tape resulted in less fascicle shortening during ankle plantar flexion, and more fascicle lengthening during ankle dorsiflexion. For the LSL exercise, deload-tape caused MG fascicles to operate at longer lengths, for a given joint angle. Diamond taping, with or without added tension, has only a small effect on ankle and MG fascicle kinematics during the heel raise-lower exercise. With the exception of the LSL exercise, both tape conditions resulted in similar changes in the FL-angle relations.