Hi Guys !
I know it has been a while since my first post but better be late than never. Recently, I was very eager to find out the results of Taping (...and YES I am one of those that love some bits of Taping, specially Dynamic) in patients with shoulder impingement problems.
The reason behind my search was ''Ms A's'' shoulder impingement (SI) problem. She's been experiecing moderate to severe shoulder pain, mainly at overhead activities. Soft tissue / Joint mobilisations, Exercise, hot and cold therapy have provide her minimal benefits for her. Due to the above I started using my Tape to provide some proprioceptive feedback and positional correction of her shoulder joint. In terms of pain during movement this intervention was beneficial immediatelly and for 2-3 days after as she mentioned. So what are the results of Taping in SI syndrome ?
A paper by Shakeri et al. (2013) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24377066 investigated the effectiveness of Kinesio Tape on pain and pain free shoulder ROM (range of motion) in patients with SI syndrome.
The above trial had a clearly focused issue which was addressed for the first time. It was a randomised (block randomisation), double blinded (assessor, patients) and placebo controlled study ! Although concealled allocation was not mentioned, the authors had clearly stated their Inclusion / Exclusion criteria. Both groups were similar at the start of the trial and equally treated since both groups received a K. Tape treatment although the control group with a non effective technique (for more information regarding the particular application see the above link please). Despite the small number of patients there was no drop out at its conclusion (good for result bias !).
Nevertheless, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups when measured for improved pain ( VAS ) during movement / night , ROM (goniometer) either immediatelly or one week after its application (researchers reassessed / re-applied K.Tape after 3 days). However significant results for the experimental compared to the control group were measured after an immediate application in pain during movement / night.
Why ''A'' found it beneficial only for 3 days after ? Would a different technique provide longer / better results ?
Cheers
Arty
