Kinesio® Tape Barrier Does Not Inhibit Intramuscular Cooling During Cryotherapy.

CONTEXT

Allied health care professionals commonly apply cryotherapy as treatment for acute musculoskeletal trauma and the associated symptoms. Understanding the impact of a tape barrier on intramuscular temperature can assist in determining treatment duration for effective cryotherapy.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether Kinesio® Tape acts as a barrier that affects intramuscular temperature during cryotherapy application.

DESIGN

A repeated-measures, counterbalanced design in which the independent variable was tape application and the dependent variable was muscle temperature as measured by thermocouples placed 1 cm beneath the adipose layer. Additional covariates for robustness were body mass index and adipose thickness.

SETTING

University research laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS

Nineteen male college students with no contraindications to cryotherapy, no known sensitivity to Kinesio® Tape, and no reported quadriceps injury within the past 6 months.

INTERVENTION

Topical cryotherapy: cubed ice bags of 1 kg and 0.5 kg.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Intramuscular temperature.

RESULTS

The tape barrier had no statistically significant effect on muscle temperature. The pattern of temperature change was indistinguishable between participants with and without tape application.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that health care professionals can combine cryotherapy with a Kinesio® Tape application without any need for adjustments to cryotherapy duration.