Acute Effects of Kinesio Taping on Functional Performance in Healthy Soccer Players: A Randomized, Controlled Crossover Trial

this study aimed to investigate the acute effects of the kinesio tape (KT) application on functional performance in healthy athletes. in this randomized, controlled crossover trial, a total of sixteen healthy soccer players (male = 14; age = 23.28 +/- 3.13 years old) were assigned randomly into either KT over quadriceps, KT over hamstring, KT over quadriceps plus hamstring, or no intervention control condition. four conditions were applied in a crossover design through three consecutive test sessions for each condition with a washout period of 2 days between the trials. afterwards, all participants performed a 5-min warm-up routine and four sets of 30-s static stretching exercises for the hamstring and gluteal muscles for three consecutive treatment sessions. the running, jump, and flexibility tests were used to assess the functional performance of healthy athletes. a total of sixteen participants completed the study. no significant differences in the jump, flexibility, and running tests among the conditions were reported (p > 0.05). these findings suggest that KT application has no acute effects in improving functional performance in healthy athletes. however, further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to verify our results.