Context: Arch tapings have been used to support the arch by increasing navicular height. Few researchers have studied navicular height and plantar pressures after physical activity.
Objective: To determine if taping techniques effectively support the arch during exercise.
Design: Crossover study.
Setting: Athletic training research laboratory.
Patients or other participants: Twenty-five individuals (13 men, 12 women; age = 20.0 ± 1.0 years, height = 172.3 ± 6.6 cm, mass = 70.1 ± 10.2 kg) with a navicular drop of more than 8 mm (12.9 ± 3.3 mm) volunteered.
Intervention(s): All individuals participated in 3 days of testing, with 1 day for each tape condition: no tape, low dye, and navicular sling. On each testing day, navicular height and plantar pressures were measured at 5 intervals: baseline; posttape; and after 5, 10, and 15 minutes of running. The order of tape condition was counterbalanced.
Main outcome measure(s): The dependent variables were navicular height in millimeters and plantar pressures in kilopascals. Plantar pressures were divided into 5 regions: medial forefoot, lateral forefoot, lateral midfoot, lateral rearfoot, and medial rearfoot. Separate repeated-measures analyses of variance were conducted for each dependent variable.
Results: Navicular height was higher immediately after application of the navicular-sling condition (P = .004) but was reduced after 5 minutes of treadmill running (P = .12). We observed no differences from baseline to posttape for navicular height for the low-dye (P = .30) and no-tape conditions (P = .25). Both the low-dye and navicular-sling conditions increased plantar pressures in the lateral midfoot region compared with the no-tape condition. The low-dye condition created decreased pressure in the medial and lateral forefoot regions compared with the no-tape condition. All changes were identified immediately after application and were maintained during running. No changes were noted in plantar pressures for the no-tape condition (P > .05).
Conclusions: Both taping techniques effectively changed plantar pressures in the lateral midfoot, and these changes were sustained throughout the 15 minutes of exercise.
Keywords: barefoot; low-dye taping; navicular-sling taping; running.