Kinesio® tape barrier does not inhibit intramuscular cooling during cryotherapy

Abstract

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.