Effect of a rehabilitation program using kt adhesive tapes and rehabilitative exercises on the rehabilitation of wrestlers with partial tears of the muscles surrounding the ribs

Musculoskeletal injuries involving the muscles surrounding the ribs are among the common injuries experienced by Greco-Roman wrestlers. This can be attributed to the nature of wrestling performance, which requires direct physical contact and control of the chest and rib regions during the execution of wrestling holds and fundamental skills, including both offensive and defensive techniques. Such injuries may result in pain, reduced muscular strength, and restricted trunk movement, thereby adversely affecting the wrestler’s technical and motor performance. The significance of the present study lies in its contribution to the field of sports injury rehabilitation through the development of a comprehensive rehabilitation program for Greco-Roman wrestlers suffering from partial tears of the muscles surrounding the ribs. The study represents one of the relatively rare attempts to address this type of injury and may contribute to drawing the attention of specialists, coaches, and researchers to rib-region muscle injuries, which have received limited attention in previous studies and research. The study aimed to develop a rehabilitation program for wrestlers suffering from partial tears of the muscles surrounding the ribs and to investigate the effect of using adhesive tape and a rehabilitation program on pain intensity, muscular strength, and range of motion. The researcher employed an experimental approach using a one-group pretest-posttest design, as it was considered appropriate to the nature of the study. The research sample consisted of eight wrestlers diagnosed with partial tears of the muscles surrounding the ribs. Following statistical analysis of the research results, the main conclusion reached by the researcher was that the rehabilitation program, which incorporated adhesive taping and rehabilitative exercises, had a positive effect on the studied variables in the injured wrestlers and resulted in a substantial and rapid reduction in pain intensity.