Affiliations: [a] Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland | [b] Department of Physiotherapy, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland | [c] M. Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Marek Gołąb, M. Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Computer Science of the Jagiellonian University, Łojasiewicza 11, 30-348 Kraków, Poland. Tel.: +48-12-664-4508; E-mail: marek.golab@uj.edu.pl.
Abstract: Background:Nowadays we observe growing popularity of kinesiotaping as a supportive method in physiotherapy. In documents available on kinesiotaping we can find that mechanical properties of tapes are similar to the ones of a human skin, but usually there is hardly any numerical data characterizing these properties. Objective:Therefore, testing and comparing physical properties of commercially available kinesiotapes seems to be important. Methods:Physical properties of five commercially available kinesiotapes were examined. Strain vs. stress data was collected up to 15 N. Program Origin 9.0 was used for data analysis. Results:The obtained results show that up to about 2 N the strain vs. stress characteristics of the tested tapes are similar while for greater stress they differ essentially. Conclusions:An alternative, to commonly used, way of defining relative strain is proposed. This definition could be more suitable in those cases when desired tape tensions are higher than 50% i.e. in ligament and tendon techniques.
Keywords: Kinesiotaping, mechanical properties of kinesiotapes, stretch characteristics
