PROPRIOCEPTIVE TAPING VERSUS KINESIO TAPING DURING REHABILITATION AFTER ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT RECONSTRUCTION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

Background:While mechanical knee stability is restored by anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) restoration,
proprioception, neuromuscular control, functional performance, and patient confidence are not always fully
restored. A popular supplement to postoperative therapy is therapeutic taping. Proprioceptive taping uses
mechanical correction and prolonged sensory input to improve joint-position awareness, whereas kinesio taping
offers elastic support and cutaneous stimulation. Nevertheless, there is little data comparing these two methods
following ACL restoration.
Objectives:to evaluate how proprioceptive taping and kinesio taping affect proprioception, pain, functional
performance, and subjective knee function in people recovering from ACL repair.
Methods: A comparative study was undertaken among 60 patients aged 18–40 years who were 6–12 weeks post-
ACL reconstruction. people were randomly distributed into two groups of 30 people each. Group B was given
kinesio taping, whereas Group A was given proprioceptive taping. For 12 weeks, both groups received the same
standardized physiotherapy rehabilitation regimen. Baseline, Week 3, and Week 12 results were evaluated. The
Joint Position Sense test was used to measure proprioception; the Single-Leg Hop test was used to measure
functional performance; the Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale was used to measure subjective knee function; and the
Visual Analog Scale was used to measure pain severity. Within-group changes were analysed using repeated-
measures analysis of variance, and between-group differences at Week 12 were analysed using the independent-
samples t-test.
Results: Both groups showed statistically significant improvement in all outcome measures over 12 weeks (p <
0.001). Joint Position Sense error decreased from 5.8 ± 1.2° to 2.3 ± 0.8° in the proprioceptive taping group and
from 5.6 ± 1.1° to 3.6 ± 1.0° in the Kinesio taping group. Single-Leg Hop Test performance increased from 72.4
± 8.5 cm to 112.3 ± 10.4 cm in Group A and from 73.1 ± 7.9 cm to 98.7 ± 9.8 cm in Group B. Lysholm scores
increased from 58.2 ± 6.4 to 90.4 ± 5.2 in Group A and from 59.1 ± 7.0 to 82.1 ± 6.8 in Group B. VAS pain
scores decreased from 6.4 ± 1.0 to 1.6 ± 0.7 in Group A and from 6.2 ± 1.1 to 2.8 ± 0.8 in Group B. At Week 12,
proprioceptive taping was significantly superior to Kinesio taping for all outcomes (p < 0.001).
Conclusion
Both taping techniques combined with structured physiotherapy rehabilitation improved proprioception, pain,
functional performance, and subjective knee function following ACL reconstruction. However, proprioceptive
taping produced significantly greater improvement and may be a useful adjunct to conventional postoperative
rehabilitation.