The immediate effects of kinesiology taping on cutaneous blood flow in healthy humans under resting conditions: A randomised controlled repeated-measures laboratory study.

BACKGROUND: Kinesiology taping (KT) is used in musculoskeletal practice for preventive and rehabilitative purposes. It is claimed that KT improves blood flow in the microcirculation by creating skin convolutions and that this reduces swelling and facilitates healing of musculoskeletal injuries. There is a paucity of physiological studies evaluating the effect of KT on cutaneous blood microcirculation. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this parallel-group controlled laboratory repeated measures design study was to evaluate the effects of KT on cutaneous blood microcirculation in healthy human adults using a dual wavelength (infrared and visible-red) laser Doppler Imaging (LDI) system. KT was compared with rigid taping and no taping controls to isolate the effects associated with the elasticity of KT. METHODS: Forty-five healthy male and female human adults were allocated to one of the three interventions using constrained randomisation following the pre-intervention measurement: (i) KT (ii) ST (standard taping) (iii) NT (no taping). Cutaneous blood perfusion was measured using LDI in the ventral surface of forearm at pre-intervention, during-intervention and post-intervention in a normothermic environment at resting conditions. RESULTS: Mixed ANOVA of both infrared and visible-red datasets revealed no statistically significant interaction between Intervention and Time. There was statistically significant main effect for Time but not Intervention. CONCLUSION: KT does not increase cutaneous blood microcirculation in healthy human adults under resting physiological conditions in a normothermic environment. On the contrary, evidence suggests that taping, regardless of the elasticity in the tape, is associated with immediate reductions in cutaneous blood flow.

The effects of kinesiology taping on experimentally-induced thermal and mechanical pain in otherwise pain-free healthy humans: A randomised controlled repeated-measures laboratory study.

BACKGROUND: Kinesiology taping (KT) is used to manage musculoskeletal-related pain. There is a paucity of physiological studies evaluating the effect of KT on stimulus-evoked experimental pain. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of KT (applied to lumbar region) on cutaneous somatosensation to noxious and innocuous stimuli in humans with a non-sensitised normally functioning nociceptive system using quantitative sensory testing (QST). METHODS: Fifty-four participants were randomised to one of three interventions: (i) KT (ii) standard 'rigid' taping (ST) (iii) sham taping (ShT). QST measurements were taken at lumbar sites pre-intervention (T1), during-intervention (T2) and during-intervention (T3) in the following sequence: warm-detection-threshold (WDT), heat-pain-threshold (HTPh), heat-pain-tolerance (HPTo), mechanical-detection-threshold (MDT), mechanical-pain-threshold (MPT) and pressure-pain-threshold (PPT). RESULTS: Mixed ANOVA revealed statistically significant interaction between Intervention and Time on MDT (p < .0005) and MPT (p < .0005) but not on WDT (p = .09), HPTh (p = .09), HPTo (p = .51) and PPT (p = .52) datasets. There was no significant simple main effect of Intervention on MDT at T2 (p = .68) and T3 (p = .24), and MPT at T2 (p = .79) and T3 (p = .54); post-hoc tests found KT and ST groups had higher (but non-significant) MDT and MPT than the ShT group. There was a significant simple main effect of Time on MDT and MPT for KT (p < .0005) and ST (p < .0005) groups; post-hoc tests found significant increases in MDT and MPT at T3 and T2 compared with T1 in both KT and ST groups. There was no significant simple main effect of Time on MDT (p = .13) nor MPT (p = .08) for the ShT group. CONCLUSION: Taping, irrespective of the elasticity, may modulate cutaneous mechanosensation. KT, ST and ShT seemed to have similar influence on cutaneous thermal and deep pressure nociception.

Could kinesiology taping help mitigate pain, breathlessness and abdominal-related symptoms in cancer?

We present the case of a woman who was an amateur athlete diagnosed with primary breast cancer, and 10 years later with terminal metastatic cancer. This case report was prepared posthumously in co-operation with her next of kin (husband). The patient first presented to a sports physiotherapist (AR) for her pain-management and to help maintain physical fitness so that she could continue with sports and an active lifestyle. The patient continued with physiotherapy for several months to enable her to be active. However, when her health deteriorated significantly due to advancing cancer, the treatment was modified and aimed at improving the patient's general well-being. The physiotherapist applied kinesiology tape over the patient's lower rib cage, diaphragm and abdomen in an attempt to manage pain, breathlessness and abdominal bloating. The patient reported alleviation of pain, breathlessness, abdominal discomfort and nausea, accompanied by improvements in eating, drinking, energy levels and physical function.

Kinesiology taping as an adjunct for pain management in cancer?

We present the case of a 46-year-old woman who developed severe pain described as 'tearing' and 'searing' in the left side of the mid-trapezius region near the thoracic 8 vertebra (T8). The patient had undergone surgery for T8 fracture which had resulted from metastasis (secondary breast cancer). A community nurse referred the patient for physiotherapy assessment and treatment for her musculoskeletal pain and related symptoms that had affected her mobility and functional activities. The patient was treated with soft tissue therapy with the addition of kinesiology taping on follow-up visits. Kinesiology tape was applied over her left side trapezius region and left shoulder. The patient reported significant reductions in pain severity and felt greater control and stability over her left shoulder region, which resulted in better function and overall quality of life measures. She did not report any adverse effects.

A survey of the attitudes and beliefs about the use of TENS for pain management by physiotherapists working in two cities in Sri Lanka.

INTRODUCTION: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a noninvasive, inexpensive, self-administered technique used throughout the world to relieve pain. In Sri Lanka, physiotherapists may use TENS for their patients as they receive a small amount of education about the principles and practice of TENS in their undergraduate training. To date, there have been no data gathered about the use of TENS by physiotherapists in Sri Lanka. The aim of this study was to assess attitudes and beliefs of physiotherapists working in Sri Lanka about their use of TENS for pain management. METHODS: A postal survey was undertaken using a 12-item questionnaire developed by the investigators to gather information about attitudes, beliefs and use of TENS in clinical practice. The questionnaire was distributed to 100 physiotherapists working in three government hospitals and six private hospitals in the cities of Kandy and Colombo. A descriptive analysis of data was performed. RESULTS: Sixty-seven completed questionnaires were returned (67% response rate). Over half of the respondents (58.2%) reported that they used TENS to treat pain "often" or "very often", with use for musculoskeletal/orthopedic (61.3%) and neuropathic/neuralgic (79.1%) pain being most common. TENS was used less for postsurgical pain and rarely for cancer pain. Most (95.5%) respondents reported that their patients benefitted "considerably" from TENS. 76.1% of the respondents reported that they did not recommend and/or prescribe TENS for patients to use at home. CONCLUSION: Physiotherapists value TENS as a treatment option to manage musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain. However, there is a need for systems and resources to enable to patients to self-administer TENS rather than having to visit clinics.