Marcin Krajczy, Jacek Łuniewski, Katarzyna Bogacz, Tomasz Dybek, Piotr Kiczyński, Edyta Krajczy, Anna Szczegielniak, Jan Szczegielniak

M. Krajczy, J. Łuniewski, K. Bogacz, T. Dybek, P. Kiczyński, E. Krajczy, A. Szczegielniak, J. Szczegielniak – Impact of elastic therapeutic tape on final effects of physiotherapy in patients with Colles’ fracture. FP 2014; 14(1); 42-49

Abstract

Background. Fractures of the distal radius constitute a serious clinical problem. It seems that appliance of elastic therapeutic tape may be an effective method of physiotherapy among patients suffering from the forearm’s fracture.Aim of the study. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of selected elastic therapeutic tape applications on physiotherapy’s effects among patients treated conservatively after Colles’ fracture. Material and methods. The study included 38 patients treated in the Rehabilitation Department of Health Care Centre in Nysa in the period from January 2012 until November 2013. Participants were randomly divided into 2 groups. A study group (SG) consisted of 20 patients (16 women and 4 men), while a control group (CG) was composed of 18 patients (15 women and 3 men). Therapy for all of the participants was based on usage of the Hand Tutor device. Additionally, after a preliminary examination, patients from the  study group received selected applications of elastic therapeutic tape as follows: muscular – toning for the wrist’s flexors and ligamentous or corrective for the wrist area. Applications were replaced every 4 days. Physiotherapy lasted 10 days. According to the established protocol, during and after completion of physiotherapy regular checkups were conducted. Results. Elastic therapeutic tape’s applications used in the process of physiotherapy in SG’s patients increased range of motion for both active and passive movements and improved quality of them compared to the patients from CG. It was also observed that deficit of movements (difference between range of passive and active motions) decreased more in the SG’s patients.
Conclusions: 1. In the final study no significant differences has been showed in the studied parameters between the groups. Research has presented wrist’s functions improvement in the frequency of active movements and range of motion in both groups. 2. Significantly higher results in the final examination of the frequency and wrist’s mobility in general were shown in comparison to the initial results.

Key words:
Colles’ fracture, physiotherapy, elastic therapeutic tape, biofeedback, Hand Tutor