OBJECTIVES: To assess whether ankle tape applied by a sport and exercise physiotherapist (SEP) or self-applied by the athlete results in a change in proprioception and whether it is maintained during a netball session. DESIGN: Randomised controlled trial. SETTING: Australian Institute of Sport. PARTICIPANTS: 53 pre-elite netball athletes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Athlete proprioception was assessed using the Active Movement Extent Discrimination Apparatus (AMEDA) on four occasions for each taping condition: (1) pre-tape, (2) post-tape, (3) post-netball and (4) post-netball no-tape. RESULTS: Mixed effect linear models were used for analysis. A significant increase in proprioception was observed when self-tape: 0.022 (95% CI -0.000 to 0.044, p = 0.05), and SEP tape: 0.034 (95% CI 0.012 to 0.055, p < 0.01), were initially applied. These improvements were maintained during a netball session for both, self-taping 0.01 (95% CI -0.01 to 0.02, p = 0.45) and SEP-taping < 0.01 (95% CI -0.02 to 0.01, p = 0.56). Results also indicate there was no significant difference between taping conditions (beta -0.001, 95% CI -0.02 to 0.02, p = 0.90). CONCLUSIONS: Proprioception improves and is maintained during a netball session with either SEP or self-applied taping.

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