Balance
muscle fatigue
ADHESION
The present study revealed no significant differences among groups when the participants stood barefoot on one foot with eyes closed. However, when they stood barefoot on one foot with eyes open, the sway distance of the inhibition taping group was significantly greater than that of the placebo taping group before taping, after taping, and after fatiguing exercise, and the sway velocity was significantly higher in the inhibition taping group than in the placebo group or the facilitation taping group. It has been reported previously that KT with inhibition methods loosens the adhesion between the skin and the underlying tissueWhen participants stood on a soft mat on one foot with their eyes open, the sway area and sway distance of the COP in all three groups gradually decreased before taping, after taping, and after fatiguing exercise. These results indicated that cutaneous blood flow may increase following fatiguing exercise, which would improve muscle metabolism and enhance mechanoreceptor stimulation. This mechanism may cause the sway area and sway distance of the COP to decrease after fatiguing exerciseWhen standing still, the human body adjusts the position of its center of mass over the base of support to maintain balanceProlonged exercise causes muscle fatigue and affects balance controlThis research had some limitations. In contrast to previous studies that used COP parameters to evaluate static balance as subjects stood on one leg for 10 s, the participants in our study could not complete the difficult balance task with their eyes closed. Therefore, we recorded the time until participants lost their balance in a standing task and we used that parameter in our study, which was also a limitation in our study.In conclusion, the findings in the present study showed that balance maintenance in a simple task (e.g., barefoot on hard floor and eye open) may have little influence on postural control, especially in the inhibition method of the KT applied. However, more difficulty balance tasks (e.g., barefoot on soft mats and eyes closed) would have no effect of KT applied, whether facilitation or inhibition methods, on posture control.