OBJECTIVE: To examine the immediate and prolonged effects (seven days) of Kinesiology Tape on balance in subjects with chronic ankle instability using the Computerized dynamic posturography (CDP). DESIGN: A 7 days follow-up, single-blind randomized controlled trial. SETTING: University community. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty six subjects were screened for possible eligibility criteria and thirty successfully completed the study protocol, of which 15 were randomly assigned to the experimental group (KT: 5 men, 10 women) and 15 were assigned to the control group (placebo tape: 10 men, 5 women). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The CDP device employed in this study was Smart Equitest version 8.2. CDP analysis was conducted using the Sensory organization test (SOT). As primaries outcome measures, the composite SOT score (COMP) and the composite SOT strategy (STR), were chosen. The partial score for SOT condition 2 (SOT 2) and its strategy (STR 2) were considered as secondary outcomes measures. RESULTS: Repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated that there was not a significant interaction between group and time in COMP (F = 0.239; p = 0.730), SOT2 (F = 0.333; p = 0.705) and STR2 (F = 0.899; p = 0.430). Additionally, repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant effect for time (COMP F = 40.69; p <= 0.01; SOT2: F = 4.61; p = 0.014; STR2: F = 0.899; p = 0.413; STR: F = 15.14; p <= 0.01). Specifically, post hoc analysis showed that both groups obtained improvements in COMP immediately following tape application and 7 days of use. CONCLUSIONS: According to our results, the SOT scores of both KT and control groups improved during follow-up. No differences between them were observed during the follow-up in the majority of balance measurements. The observed changes may be related to a subjective increase in confidence after the tape application.

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