Background: The literature surrounding prevention methods for injury to the anterior cruciate ligament is biased in nature towards that of prevention programmes. The format of these programmes and the time taken for the effects to present, is extensive. The injury rate, specifically for women, is stated to be at between 30 and 78 per 100,000 people. Therefore, it is vital that a more immediate intervention is determined, such as the use of kinesiology tape, whereby the current knowledge surrounding the benefits of this intervention is limited. Purpose: the study aimed to investigate the effects of kinesiology tape on muscular strength in healthy females. A neuromuscular taping technique was utilised to achieve co-activation of the quadriceps and hamstrings during a back-squat, in order to counteract a common mechanism of injury. Participants: Eight healthy females (age= 20.6 ± 0.21 years) participated. Experimental conditions: Participants were required to undergo a 5-reptition-maximum testing protocol and were involved in all three testing conditions of the crossover study. Data collection and analysis: The injury risk was evaluated via the 5-repitition-maximum scores across the three trials. The scores were collected after each trial and compared. A repeated measures ANOVA, post-hoc Bonferroni test and effect sizes were used to analyse the data collected. Results: Statistically significant results (p>0.05) were produced from the repeated measures ANOVA, however, further application of the Bonferroni correction produced insignificant results (p<0.05). Despite this a significant interaction effect was observed between trials T1 and T3 (d=0.85). Conclusion: The lack of statistical significance from the post-hoc analysis meant that the null hypothesis could not be rejected. Despite this, the statistical results from the repeated measures ANOVA, and increase in the mean results throughout the three trials, proves that the results lack statistical power, therefore require further testing to prove that kinesiology tape can be used as a preventative intervention for injury to the anterior cruciate ligament.
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