# Effect of Kinesio Taping on Hand Sensorimotor Control and Brain Activity
## 2 Materials and Methods  
We recruited 24 right-handed adults (12 men, 12 women). The inclusion criteria were as follows: healthy adults between the ages of 20 and 40 years. The exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) pain in the hand, wrist, or forearm; (2) musculoskeletal disorders of the upper extremities in the past 6 months; (3) any central nervous system disorders; (4) abnormal sensation; (5) muscle fatigue in the upper extremities; (6) allergic to Kinesio tape; and (7) open wound on the ventral side of the forearm. Our study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board of National Yang-Ming University (YM108058E), and the participants gave their informed consent prior to participation in the experiments. (Clinical Trial Registration: NCT03909880, July 2019). This was an observational study with a single-group, repeated-measures design. Participants were subjected to three taping conditions in a random order and underwent tests after each taping process. All tests were completed on the same day. Each participant received three taping conditions in random order: (1) taping with 20% additional tension (taping20), (2) taping with neutral tension (tapingN), and (3) without taping (control). Y shape Kinesio tape (Kinesio Holding Corp., Albuquerque, NM, USA) was applied onto the skin above finger flexors, with anchor set at the wrist and the tape was extended to the tendon region of finger flexor (Figure 1). For the tapingN condition, Kinesio tape was applied onto the skin with its neutral tension (without stretching the tape). For the taping20 condition, the 2 ends of the tape (-5 cm) were kept tension-free and 20% extra tension was applied to the middle area of the tape. Outcome measures (below) were recorded immediately after the tape was applied. The rest time between conditions was 5 min. To determine the effects of Kinesio taping on sensorimotor control and brain activities, we compared the following outcome measurements before and after taping:  
* Joint position sense A joint angle gauge (SS20L/21L; BioPAC Systems Inc., Santa Barbara, CA, USA) was placed across the dorsal midline of the wrist, from the midline of the forearm, through the capitate bone, to the third metacarpophalangeal joint. The gauge was connected to an electrical signal acquisition system (CED Power1401 mk II; Cambridge Electronic Design, Cambridge, UK), and the associated Spike7 software displayed joint angle data on a computer screen. The participants practiced 15\({}^{\circ}\) wrist flexion for 1 min with visual feedback from the computer screen. Next, the participants performed 15\({}^{\circ}\) wrist flexion with their eyes closed. When they considered their wrist flexion angle to be 15\({}^{\circ}\), they pressed a customized button to record the angle. This process was repeated five times. * Force sense  
A Jamar dynamometer (G200; Biometrics Ltd., Newport, UK) with a signal acquisition system (CED Power1401 mk II) was used to record and display grip force data on the computer screen. The participants' maximal grip force was first determined by averaging 3 maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVIC). Next, the participants practiced generating a grip force of 20% MVIC for 1 min with visual feedback from the computer screen. Next, the participants performed grips with 20% MVIC with their eyes closed. When they considered the force to be 20% MVIC, they pressed a customized button to record the force level. This process was repeated five times. * Reaction time  
A Jamar dynamometer (G200; Biometrics Ltd., Newport, UK) and a pair of silver chloride disposable surface electromyography (EMG) electrodes (on finger flexor muscle belly, inter-electrode distance = 2 cm) with the reference electrode (on the ipsilateral acromion) were used to record grip force and muscle activity. Data were processed using a signal acquisition system (CED Power1401 mk II, UK). The sampling rate for force and EMG data collection was 1000 Hz.