The immediate effects of taping therapy on knee pain and depression in patients with degenerative arthritis.
Ji-Won Han, Dong-Kyu Lee, Chi-Bok Park
PMID 29765185WHAT IT FOUND
After four weeks, adding elastic knee taping to heat and electrical treatment lowered knee pain by 4.8 points on a 0 to 10 scale and depression by 8.7 points on a 0 to 63 scale.
The control group had smaller reductions.
Key findings
01The group that received elastic knee taping in addition to thermotherapy and electrotherapy showed larger reductions in knee pain and depression scores than the group that received thermotherapy and electrotherapy alone.
02In the taped group, mean knee pain fell from 7.3 to 2.5 on the 0 to 10 scale, and mean depression fell from 22.3 to 13.6 on the 0 to 63 scale.
03In the control group, mean knee pain moved from 6.9 to 6.2 and mean depression moved from 20.9 to 19.1, with smaller changes than the taped group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 32 patients were randomised, and each group had 16, so this is a small study. Participants all had knee pain of 6 or higher on the 0 to 10 scale and were not receiving other pain treatment or pain or depression medication, so the result may not apply to milder pain or medicated patients. Both groups received thermotherapy and electrotherapy, so the study cannot show that tape alone caused the improvement. The supplied text does not report blinding, dropout numbers, or follow-up after the four-week programme. The title says immediate effects, but the methods describe taping five times a week for four weeks, so the result is a short-term comparison.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that elastic knee taping alone improves knee pain or depression. The taped group also received thermotherapy and electrotherapy, and the control group received the same two treatments without tape.