The current finding that KT was the preferential
intervention over 30 minutes supports the proposal
that KT must be applied prior to use to allow the glue
properties of the tape to activate. As tape is applied to
the skin, it could be hypothesized that any increase
in tissue extensibility might be due to cutaneous
receptor response influencing the effects of stress
relaxation and viscoelastic deformation by applying
a constant force over a period of time (creep).
The adaptive change in tissue might be due to either
increased circulation in the taped area or stimulation
of the cutaneous mechanoreceptors to assist
in tissue deformation.29 The optimum post-intervention
time derived from the regression equation
appears to be 24.2 mins, suggesting a combination of
initial cutaneous mechanoreceptor stimulation and
viscoelastic change that may assist in deformation
over time. The mechanisms underpinning stretch
tolerance and the influence of sensory neural pathways
remain unclear. Changing muscle extensibility
can increase the number of sarcomeres and stimulate
the rearrangement of collagen through adaptive
change and deformation of tissue.30