Effects of Kinesio taping on lower limb biomechanical characteristics during unexpected jumping in patients with chronic ankle instability

Purpose The current biomechanical research on the application of Kinesio taping (KT) to patients with chronic ankle instability (CAI) has focused on testing the expected movements. However, unexpected movements are more common in actual sports. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of KT on the biomechanical characteristics of the knee and ankle joints during unexpected jumping movements. Methods Twenty‐one patients with unilateral CAI were recruited to capture the biomechanical parameters during unexpected jumping movements under different interventions: no taping (NT), placebo taping (PT), and KT. A one‐way repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare the differences in knee and ankle biomechanical characteristics among patients with CAI between the three intervention conditions. Results At initial contact, the KT group demonstrated a significant decrease in ankle plantarflexion and knee flexion angles compared to the NT group (p