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Kinesiology tape improves an archer's sense of shoulder position

2 studies · 52 archers measured

ForContextAgainst201820202022202420262019, for, n = 302019, against, n = 302019, context, n = 302025, for, n = 222025, context, n = 22
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

Two studies on archers find that with tape the shoulder finds a position again more accurately, but neither has a group without tape or with sham tape. In the first, thirty club archers in Tehran, on the shoulder of the drawing arm: at 60 degrees of external rotation the repositioning error goes from 5.91 to 0.99 degrees, while at 30 degrees the mean error was already close to zero (0.60 degrees), meaning there was no systematic deviation to correct, and it does not change. At both angles the spread of individual errors falls by about half, but nobody put it to a test. In the second, twenty-two Indonesian barebow archers aged 14 to 18 with tape on the bow arm for four weeks, the error after treatment is lower at p below 0.01, but the starting values are not reported and the archers were chosen precisely because their error was larger, which leaves room for a simple drift back towards the average; adding Flexi-bar exercises improves nothing. The signal in favour comes from two small samples, in regional journals and with no control, and at 30 degrees the first study finds no effect on the mean error: this is explained by the absence of any deviation to correct, but it is still a null result in archers, and the status is contested.

Also phrased as: "kinesio taping for the archer's shoulder"; "tape and proprioception"; "elastic tape on the shoulder"; "shoulder position sense"; "taping and alignment"

In practice

Kinesiology tape on the shoulder is used in competition and training on the idea that, besides supporting the joint, it helps the archer feel where the arm is and repeat the same alignment arrow after arrow.

Evidence

Status history

  1. 2019 Contested Thirty club archers measured before and after tape on the shoulder of the drawing arm provide the first data. At 60 degrees of external rotation, where without tape they were off by about six degrees, with tape the error falls below one degree; at 30 degrees the mean error was close to zero beforehand, with no systematic deviation to correct, and it does not change. Individual errors, however, ranged from -5.6 to 7.5 degrees, and with tape their spread falls by about half at both angles, though nobody put that to a statistical test. The same study therefore points two ways, in favour at 60 degrees and with no effect at 30, where there was nothing to correct. A single study, with no control group, in a regional journal, with one result in favour and one null: contested.
  2. 2025 Contested Twenty-two barebow archers aged 14 to 18 wear tape on the bow arm for four weeks, half of them also doing Flexi-bar exercises: in both groups the shoulder position error after treatment is lower, at p below 0.01, and the exercises add nothing in flexion. The starting values, however, are not reported, the archers had been chosen because their error was over 89 millimetres, and there is no group without tape. There are now two studies in favour, both without a control, and the null result at 30 degrees from 2019 still stands: the status stays contested.

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Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Kinesiology tape improves an archer's sense of shoulder position (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/kinesiology-tape-shoulder-position-sense

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_kinesiotapesensoposizione,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Kinesiology tape improves an archer's sense of shoulder position},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/kinesiology-tape-shoulder-position-sense},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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