Abstract

Background. Kinesilogy Tape (KT) is widely used in patients with muscular disorders and pain. Objectives. To present the current body of knowledge on KT as a treatment method in patients with muscular disorders and pain. Design. Systematic review. Population. Patients with musculoskeletal disorders and pain. in whom KT was used.

Methods The papers were identified on the basis of term searches in digital research databases (PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CCTR), EMBASE Excerpta Medica, and Google Scholar). On the basis of the review of the available 152 research articles, 27 papers on muscular disorders and pain disorders were selected. Two of the authors of this review, working independently, selected the papers to be included in the analyzed sample, isolated the data, performed an assessment of the risk of bias, and assessed the quality of the evidence for the main effects using the IVS internal validity score (PEDro) approach. A simplified version of the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (OCEBM) system was used to evaluate the evidence. Results. There are too few prospective, controlled randomized trials on KT that include a sufficiently large cohort. Only few of the reviewed papers that discuss the principles of KT meet the criteria of scientifically rigorous research. Conclusions. There is a need for further clinical trials on the effectiveness of the use of KT method.

Clinical rehabilitation impact. We found significant quality evidence to support the use of KT in clinical practice in patients with disorders of the musculoskeletal system (and in sports therapy).

Key words:

kinesiotaping, kinesiology taping, kinesiology tape, k/active tape AND medicine, musculoskeletal disorders AND pain