Abstract
This study aims to obtain some guidelines for designing elastic tights that can reduce muscle load. Eight women were employed as test subjects. An investigation of the taping effect on the leg was conducted by analyzing electromyograms (EMG) of the rectus femoris muscle, vastus lateralis muscle and biceps femoris muscle, which were measured whilst making standing-up and sitting-down movements.
When legs were bare and when normal tights were worn, a taping method (S type taping), which taped up straight from the anterior thigh to the anterior shank through the patella, reduced the muscle load of the rectus femoris muscle and vastus lateralis muscle. The effect was more marked during standing-up than during sitting-down. The taping effect was slightly lower when the taping was made on tights than bare legs. It was suggested that the development and design of tights with stretch property that had similar effect to S type taping was useful because there was no skin disorder caused by adhesive tape.
