Abstract
Objective: To compare the effect of taping and bracing on lower limb muscle activity during
gait. Design: Cross-sectional laboratory study. Methods: Twenty-seven asymptomatic adults with flat-arched foot posture were recruited to
this study. They walked over-ground under three randomly allocated conditions: (i)
barefoot; (ii) augmented low-Dye taping; (iii) replaceable ankle brace. Electromyographic
(EMG) activity from tibialis posterior, tibialis anterior, peroneus longus and medial
gastrocnemius was measured for each condition. Peak EMG amplitude and time of peak
EMG amplitude were assessed from stance phase data. A series of one-way repeated measure
analysis of variance followed by Bonferroni post hoc tests were undertaken (α = 0.05). Results: Tibialis posterior peak EMG amplitude decreased by 22% and 33% with bracing and taping
(respectively), compared to barefoot. Peak amplitude was also decreased for peroneus
longus by 34% and 30% and for tibialis anterior by 19% and 13% with bracing and taping
(respectively), compared to barefoot. Small significant changes in time of peak EMG
amplitude were found for tibialis posterior and tibialis anterior with taping and
bracing compared to barefoot. The effect of taping and bracing was only different
for tibialis posterior peak EMG amplitude, with tape producing a 15% reduction compared
to bracing. Conclusion: The augmented low-Dye tape and replaceable ankle brace used in this study could be
useful in managing overuse and dysfunction of selected leg muscles, particularly tibialis
posterior, by reducing their level of activation during walking.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 31, 2011
Accepted:
May 20,
2011
Received in revised form:
April 26,
2011
Received:
October 8,
2010
Identification
Copyright
© 2011 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
