Effects of proprioceptive sense-based Kinesio taping on walking imbalance.
Young-Han Park, Jung-Ho Lee
PMID 27942119WHAT IT FOUND
Kinesio tape on the affected side was followed by smaller left-right walking deviation after each of three taping conditions in 12 stroke patients with hemiplegia.
Without a control group, this cannot show the tape caused the change.
Key findings
01Combined upper and lower limb taping showed a significant before-after difference of 33.64 ± 6.85 cm in walking deviation.
02Upper limb taping and lower limb taping each showed significant before-after differences of 18.65 ± 4.59 cm and 23.15 ± 6.48 cm.
03Differences among the three taping sites were significant, and combined upper and lower limb taping differed significantly from lower limb taping.
STILL TO COME
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What it does not show
Only 12 patients from one hospital were studied. There was no control group, so the study cannot separate taping from practice, rest, or natural variation. The taping order was fixed, and participants were not blinded to the tape. The study did not use three-dimensional gait analysis or assess physiological and psychological factors. The methods state the significance level was a=0.5, while the results report p<0.05. The introduction says the study aimed to examine normal adults, while the methods enrolled 12 patients with hemiplegia after stroke.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that Kinesio taping improves walking balance in stroke patients. This was a small uncontrolled before-after study with 12 participants and three fixed taping conditions, so the reported changes in deviation may reflect practice, rest, or natural variation rather than the tape.