A comparison of acute effects between Kinesio tape and electrical muscle elongation in hamstring extensibility

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

To improve hamstring extensibility some methods have been analyzed and compared for determining their acute and chronic effectiveness.

OBJECTIVE:

To compare the immediate effect of electrical muscle elongation (EME) versus Kinesio tape (KT) in hamstring muscle extensibility.

METHODS:

One hundred and twenty adult amateur athletes with hamstring shortness (straight leg raise test angle $\mathrm{<}80$ °) were randomly assigned to a group: group 1 (EME session of 4 KHz interferential current, bipolar technique and AMF=100 Hz, $\mathit{n}=40$ ), group 2 (KT, $\mathit{n}=40$ ) or group 3 (control group, no intervention, $\mathit{n}=40$ ). Hamstring extensibility was assessed before and after the intervention through the active knee extension test. Results: Significant improvements were found in both EME and KT groups whereas no changes were detected in the control group. However, no significant differences between both techniques were detected. The EME group showed large effect size ( $\mathit{d}=0.843$ ) while the KT group reached medium effect size ( $\mathit{d}=0.431$ ).

CONCLUSIONS:

Both electrical muscle elongation and Kinesio tape are effective techniques in the short-term in amateur athletes with decreased hamstring extensibility. The higher increase of hamstring extensibility, with a better clinical effect was achieved with the application of electrical muscle elongation. However, no significant differences were found when comparing the effectiveness of both techniques.