Is Kinesio Taping Application Effective on Decreasing Injury Risk for Tennis Players

Research design: The study protocol was approved and required permissions were taken from related tennis club officials, and a written consent was obtained from all the participants' parents about the study. Thirty-three young tennis players aged between 9 and 12 were included in our study. Assessment were done bare (no tape), after 45 min of performance plus kinesio taping application (PP application) and after 45 min of gold text FP kinesio taping application (GT application). We were randomly taped with either PP or GT taping applications using an online random allocation software program (GraphPad Software QuickCalcs, GraphPad Software Inc., La Jolla, CA, USA). Thirty min of rest was given between 2 taping applications after the removal of the first tape. One participant was not able to complete the second taping procedure. PP and GT taping applications were done by using kinesio taping muscle facilitation techniques to Quadriceps and Gastrosoleus muscles. I-shaped tape with a tension of 10-35% was used for muscle facilitation. All patients were assessed by an experienced physiotherapist, and the tapings were done by another experienced physiotherapist in order to provide a single blind structure of the study.

Participants: Thirty-three young tennis players aged between 9 and 12 yrs were recruited in the study. The exclusion criteria included those (a) with soft tissue or bone problems affecting lower extremity, (b) who had acute inflammation affecting lower extremity region, (c) had scoliosis, (d) who had undergone any orthopedic surgery, (e) who had defined any pain or painful area at lower extremities and (f) who were obese (BMI\>30 kg/m2).

Assessments: Thermal analysis was done for risk of injury including both lower extremities. Quadriceps muscle was chosen from upper leg and gastro soleus muscle was chosen from lower leg region for thermal analysis. The thermo graphic assessment was performed by using FLIR E5 (FLIR Systems AB, Sweden) thermal camera in order to evaluate which muscles had the highest thermal activity while maintaining stable upright posture. The part of muscle with more activation (greater heat) was measured by the thermo graphic camera and the heat was recorded in centigrade. Each participant was thermo graphically evaluated in the same room (ambient temperature, 21°C) and participants were left for 10-20 minutes to 'acclimatize' to the thermographic imaging environment FLIR E5 Thermal Camera, with a resolution of 120 x 90 pixels was used for thermal imaging and the Color Palette iron was chosen for displaying the images. It is indicated that IR imaging may be a reliable and valid measure of treatment outcomes with clinical utility and sensitivity

The power analysis indicated that 33 participants for total were needed with 80 % power and a 5 % type 1 error. The power analysis of our study showed a power of 80% with tissue temperature as the primary outcome. The data were analyzed using statistical software (SPSS version 18, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). All the statistical analyses were set a priori at an alpha level of p\<0.05. The tests for homogeneity (Levene's test) and normality (Shapiro-Wilk) were used to determine the appropriate statistical methods. According to the test results, nonparametric Friedman test was used for comparisons between baseline, first taping and last taping. Wilcoxon test was used for possible differences which may occur between taping applications in order to identify the application that provided the difference. Parametric test assumptions were not possible due to small sample size and inhomogeneous parameters.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* at least playing tennis 2 years
* to be between 9 and 12 years
* no any sport activity-only tennis
* to be a volunteer

Exclusion Criteria:

1. with soft tissue or bone problems affecting lower extremity,
2. who had acute inflammation affecting lower extremity region,
3. had scoliosis,
4. who had undergone any orthopedic surgery,
5. who had defined any pain or painful area at lower extremities and
6. who were obese (BMI\>30 kg/m2).