Effect of Dynamic Taping on Landing Kinematics and Kinetics in Volleyball Players With Symptoms of Patellar Tendinopathy
Condition: Biomechanical Phenomena
MeSH terms: Tendinopathy
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Patellar tendinopathy (PT) is the common cause of anterior knee pain, particularly in sports
      required repeated jumping and landing, such as volleyball. PT clinically presents as anterior
      knee pain and localized tenderness at the patellar tendon. To evaluate the severity of
      symptoms of PT, the VISA-P questionnaire is a self-administered, well-validated, and
      widespread assessment tool. In the long term, athletes would land with knee avoidance
      patterns and transfer the load to the hip joint caused further hip-related injury. Lower
      extremities eccentric exercise has been proven the most beneficial treatment of PT. However,
      the course lasts for three to six months. For athletes who are still in season, it's
      difficult to get the immediate effect. A newly developed biomechanical taping, dynamic tape,
      considered to be beneficial for load absorption during muscle eccentric contraction during
      landing and further normalized the lower extremities load contribution by its viscoelasticity
      property. However, no past research has confirmed this effect.

      Therefore, the aims of the study are to translate the English VISA-P questionnaire to the
      Chinese and to study the reliability and validity of the Chinese version. In the next part,
      the investigators investigate the different landing biomechanics between individuals with and
      without patellar tendinopathy and establish the reliability of different landing tasks, and
      further explore whether the dynamic tape alters landing biomechanics in volleyball players.
    

Detailed description: 
      Patellar tendinopathy is one of the most common causes of anterior knee pain, particularly
      common in sports that required repeated jumping and landing, such as volleyball and
      basketball. Patellar tendinopathy clinically presents as anterior knee pain and localized
      tenderness at the patellar tendon. To evaluate the severity of symptoms of patellar
      tendinopathy, the VISA-P (Victorian institution of sports assessment- patellar tendon)
      questionnaire is an easily self-administered, well-validated assessment tool and commonly
      used across several countries. In the long term, athletes would land with knee avoidance
      landing patterns and transfer the load to the hip joint, which caused the further hip-related
      injury. Lower extremities eccentric contraction exercise has been proven the most beneficial
      treatment of patellar tendinopathy. However, the course of treatment needs to last for three
      to six months. For athletes who are still in season, it's difficult to get the immediate
      effect. A newly developed biomechanical taping, dynamic tape, considered to be beneficial for
      load absorption during muscle eccentric contraction during landing and further normalized the
      lower extremities load contribution by its viscoelasticity property. However, no past
      research has confirmed this effect.

      Therefore, the aims of this study are to translate the English VISA-P questionnaire to
      Chinese and to study the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the VISA-P. In
      the next part of the study, the investigators investigate the different landing biomechanics
      between individuals with and without patellar tendinopathy and establish the reliability of
      different landing tasks, and further explore whether the dynamic tape alters landing
      biomechanics in volleyball players. Methods: The first part of the study will include 15
      subjects with the symptoms of patellar tendinopathy and 15 healthy subjects to fill out the
      translated questionnaire. In the second part of the study will include 15 volleyball players
      with the symptoms of patellar tendinopathy and 15 healthy controls. To compare the landing
      biomechanics between two groups, all subjects will conduct three landing tasks and the
      kinematics and kinetics of lower extremities、loading rate of vertical ground force and
      patellar tendon force will be recorded. In the third part of the study, the investigators
      will recruit 50 volleyball players with the symptoms of patellar tendinopathy and randomly
      assign to two groups, the dynamic tape, and sham tape. After taping, subjects will conduct
      three landing tasks, and the landing biomechanics will be recorded. Statistical analysis:
      Intra-class correlation, Pearson's correlation, and Mann-Whitney test will be used to analyze
      the test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, and construct validity of the Chinese
      version VISA-P. Repeated measures MANOVA will be used to analyze the interaction of landing
      biomechanics in three landing tasks between patellar tendinopathy group and healthy control,
      and further, analyze the interaction in three landing tasks between the dynamic tape and sham
      tape group in landing biomechanics parameters. Alpha level= 0.05
    

Intervention name(s): Dynamic tape; Sham tape
Intervention type(s): Device; Device
Intervention description(s): The dynamic tape will stick from anterior inferior iliac spine to the middle of the tibia in supine and full knee extension position; The 3M™ Soft Cloth Tape will stick from anterior inferior iliac spine to the middle of the tibia in supine and full knee extension position
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: patellar tendinopathy; volleyball; biomechanics; kinematics; kinetics; dynamic tape; landing; VISA-P; translation; Chinese