Venta Donec, Lina Nausėdaitė, Artūras Daukantas, Aurelija Beigienė
Abstract
Knee osteoarthritis (knee OA) is one of the most common forms of degenerative joint disease’s which causes burden of pain in ageing population and often leads to impaired mobility and working ability, lowered quality of life. By various treatment approaches (conservative or surgical ones) it is possible to achieve less rapid progression of disease, compensation or improvement of impaired biosocial functions, improvement of quality of life and postpone disability. The aim of this review was to analyse and to summarize the main findings of randomized clinical trials, where Kinesio Taping® method was applied for knee OA population in order to lessen the pain and improve knee function. A literature search (according to the protocol) (November 2014) was performed using PubMed, Cochrane, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar databases. These searches yielded a total of 370 articles, which were reviewed thoroughly to identify suitable articles. Just one article met inclusion criteria, therefore was decided to widen inclusion criteria and include also articles about the RCT, where Kinesio Taping® method was used for knee pain or patellofemoral pain syndrome (which is also common for knee OA). These searches yielded a total of 1385 articles, which were reviewed thoroughly to identify suitable articles. Finally four papers met our criteria and were included in this systematic review. One of these studies examined Kinesio Taping® effects in on knee OA, other three – on patellofemoral pain syndrome. Treatment with Kinesio Taping® significantly improved pain levels and quadriceps peak torque in patients with knee OA immediately (after 30 min) after application, the long-term results were not analysed. Studies with patellofemoral pain found insufficient evidence to indicate that Kinesio Taping® decreased pain or improved muscle function more than placebo or physical therapy alone, or electro stimulation. It was found that all authors used different taping techniques, even for the same pathology. Most of studies had high risk of bias. This systematic review found insufficient evidence to draw final conclusions towards support for using Kinesio Taping® for knee OA treatment. Further high-quality studies are needed.
Keyword(s): knee osteoarthritis; patellofemoral pain syndrome; kinesio taping method.
DOI: 10.5200/sm-hs.2015.057
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