Beyond skin contact: joint-crossing as the active component of asymmetric dynamic taping for badminton performance, a randomized sham-controlled crossover trial.

Dynamic taping (DT) employs extensible elastic tape as an external spring to share biomechanical load through elastic recoil, yet its sport-specific effects in healthy competitive athletes remain unestablished. This randomized, sham-controlled trial examined whether asymmetric DT to the dominant-leg knee and non-dominant-leg ankle would acutely improve dynamic balance, countermovement jump (CMJ) height, and badminton-specific agility in 30 competitive adolescents. A sham taping (ST) preserved cutaneous input while removing mechanical load-sharing. Significant condition × time interactions were observed for Y Balance Test (YBT)-dominant (F = 6.202, p = .019), YBT-non-dominant (p = .004), CMJ height (F = 9.829, p = .004), and six-point footwork time (F = 29.905, p < .001). DT increased YBT scores by 3.45-3.77%, CMJ height by 3.36%, and reduced footwork time by 5.34% (d = 0.19-0.59); ST produced only trivial changes (d < 0.12). Joint-crossing rather than cutaneous stimulation alone may be the active component contributing to the performance benefits of DT, supporting asymmetric joint-crossing DT as a practical pre-competition adjunct for racket sport athletes.