Abstract

The application of tape has been widely used for many years by physiotherapists to deal with variety of sports disorders. However, it remains unclear whether the tape application affects the sensory input to somatosensory cortex. Therefore, the objective of this study is to clarify the effect of taping using somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs). We compared between control and tape application conditions using SEPs elicited by a electrical pulse (0.5 ms) applied to the medial forearm of right hand at inter-stimulus interval 5 s in 10 volunteers. There were three conditions (control, elastic- and white-tape). Electrical stimulation elicited clear two long latency SEPs, N140 and P250, in control, elastic- and white-tape conditions. The amplitude of P250 in elastic-tape condition was larger than that of P250 in control and white-tape conditions. Elastic-tape application forearm reduced the amplitude of P250. Therefore, elastic-tape application may affect the attention and perception relating to tactile stimulation.