Examination of the effect of physical therapy combined with kinesiology taping on pain and muscle weakness in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Yosuke Kawaguchi, Atsushi Oda, Takaaki Ishikawa and 2 others
PMID 39624349WHAT IT FOUND
Exercise therapy plus correctly placed kinesiology tape did not outperform exercise therapy plus sham tape for knee osteoarthritis pain or quadriceps strength.
Both groups improved over 4 weeks.
Key findings
01Adding correctly applied kinesiology tape to physical therapy did not produce a group difference across the measured outcomes compared with sham tape.
02Both tape groups showed improvements over time on most physical and quality-of-life measures.
03The change over time differed between groups for contralateral knee flexion range of motion and KOOS symptoms, and further comparisons showed improvements in the kinesiology tape group for these items.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 31 patients were analysed, 16 in the tape group and 15 in the sham group, so small differences could be missed. The sample included 31 patients, mostly women, and only 1 man in the KT group. Everyone had to be able to walk independently, so the results may not apply to patients who cannot walk unaided. The sham group also received tape, and there was no group that received no tape, so the study cannot separate tape presence from tape technique. Participants and evaluators were not blinded because the two tape methods were visibly different, which can affect subjective scores. One physical therapist performed all measurements and treatment, so findings may not generalize across therapists. Follow-up was only 4 weeks, so longer-term effects are unknown.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that kinesiology tape improves knee osteoarthritis pain or strength beyond physical therapy alone. The sham group also received tape and the same exercise therapy, and the study found no group difference for measured outcomes.