Effects of spiral taping on proprioception in subjects with unilateral functional ankle instability.
Young-Sook Bae
PMID 28210052WHAT IT FOUND
Spiral taping applied to the unstable ankle improved active joint position sense in healthy young adults with functional ankle instability.
Accuracy improved significantly at 20° of plantar flexion and inversion, but not at 10° of inversion.
Key findings
01Significant improvements were found in active joint position sense for plantar flexion at 10° and 20°, and for inversion at 20°.
02The largest effect sizes were observed for plantar flexion at 20° and inversion at 20°.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study used a single-group pre-test and post-test design with no control group, so improvements cannot be definitively attributed to the taping rather than practice effects or natural variation. Participants were young, healthy students and sport club members, so results may not apply to older adults or those with more severe or chronic instability. Outcomes were measured only 30 minutes after taping, so it is unknown whether the benefits persist during functional activity or longer-term use. The paper reports 39 subjects in the methods section but 35 in the results table, creating ambiguity about the final sample size analysed.
Declared interests
No funding sources or conflicts of interest were declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the tape caused the improvement. The study had no control group, so the better scores could simply be due to practising the test twice or natural variation, not the spiral taping itself.