Effect of Dynamic Taping on Landing Biomechanics in Athletes With Symptoms of Patellar Tendinopathy

Patellar tendinopathy (PT) is an overuse injury associated with loading activities, and popular among basketball and volleyball players. Although altered biomechanical characteristics during landing has been suggested as one of the risk factors for the development of PT, previous evidence failed to show the link between the sagittal plane biomechanics of the hip and knee joint and PT; and little was known about the frontal and horizontal plane biomechanics in athletes with PT. While other factors such as motor control or muscle activation also have not been explored fully. The purpose of this study is to compare hip motor control and biomechanical characteristics of the hip and knee joint during landing in athletes with and without symptomatic PT.

Background: Patellar tendinopathy is an overuse injury associated with loading activities, and it is thought to be caused by repetitive force applied to the patellar tendon. Patellar tendinopathy is popular among basketball and volleyball players, particularly in men. Although altered biomechanical characteristics during landing has been suggested as one of the risk factors for the development of patellar tendinopathy, previous evidence failed to show the link between the sagittal plane biomechanics of the hip and knee joint and patellar tendinopathy; and little was known about the frontal and horizontal plane biomechanics in athletes with patellar tendinopathy. Among those factors contributing to the biomechanical characteristics, hip and quadriceps strength were shown linked with the presence of patellar tendinopathy, while other factors such as motor control or muscle activation have not been explored fully. The purpose of this study is to compare hip motor control and biomechanical characteristics of the hip and knee joint during landing in athletes with and without symptomatic patellar tendinopathy. The investigators hypothesize that the athletes with symptomatic patellar tendinopathy have poorer motor control and different landing biomechanics as compared with asymptomatic athletes.

Method: the investigators plan to recruit seventeen symptomatic patellar tendinopathy athletes for the experimental group, using demographic data (sex, age, height, weight, exercise type) of experimental group to match seventeen non-symptomatic athletes as control group. The assessment included hip motor control in various directions, and measurement of kinetics, kinematics and muscle activation during the step-down task, drop vertical jump and countermovement jump using the computer-aided video motion analysis system (Vicon) and the surface EMG (Noraxon). The group difference will be tested using t-test for the motor control ability and biomechanical characteristics. The significant level was set at 0.05.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* at the age of 18 to 40 years old
* volleyball and basketball players have more than 2 years training experience
* over 90 minutes of training time per week

symptomatic group:

* having patellar tendon pain during loading task last for 3 months
* VISA-P questionnaire score ≦80

asymptomatic group:

* without any lower extremity pain(NRS3/10) in past 3 months
* VISA-P questionnaire score \>80

Exclusion Criteria:

* Underwent sports physical therapy for knee pain in the past three months.
* Currently have any other chronic or acute lower limb injuries with a pain score \>3/10.
* Self-reported pregnancy.
* Had surgery, fractures, or received steroid injections for the patellar tendon in the lower limbs.
* with a history of rheumatoid arthritis, systematic and neurological diseases