Comparison of effects of Mulligan taping and Kinesio taping on ankle neuromuscular control in response to a sudden inversion perturbation in individuals with chronic ankle instability.

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to compare the effects of Mulligan taping (MT) with Kinesio taping (KT) and the un-taped ankle on neuromuscular control during a sudden inversion perturbation in individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI).

DESIGN: Randomized, single blind cross-over.

SETTING: Biomechanics lab.

PARTICIPANTS: 16 individuals with chronic ankle instability.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The outcome measures were the onset time and magnitude of short (SLR) and medium latency response (MLR) for peroneus brevis (PB), peroneus longus (PL), tibialis anterior (TA), and soleus (SOL) muscles and the TA/P and SOL/TA antagonist co-activation.

RESULTS: In the groups of KT and MT, the onset time was significantly decreased at post-taping compared to pre-taping, such that for the onset time of PB MLR, the groups of KT and MT had an earlier onset time than the un-taped group. For the magnitude of TA SLR and PB MLR, groups exhibited different behaviors. In the KT group, the magnitude was significantly increased post-taping, however, in the MT group, it was decreased. Regarding the TA/P and SOL/TA co-activation, the groups of KT and MT showed significant changes post-taping.

CONCLUSION: This study suggests that KT and MT significantly affect neuromuscular control in response to a sudden perturbation in individuals with CAI, although the behavior of KT and MT appears to be somewhat different from each other.