Abstract
Elastic therapeutic taping (ET) has been widely used for a series of musculoskeletal diseases in recent years. However, there remains clinical uncertainty over its efficiency for knee osteoarthritis (knee OA) management. To assess the effects of ET on patients with knee OA, we investigated outcomes including self-reported pain, knee flexibility, knee-related health status, adverse events, muscle strength, and proprioceptive sensibility. Ten databases including PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Web of Science, PEDro, Research Gate, CNKI, CBM, and Wanfang were systematically searched. Eleven randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 168 participants with knee OA provided data for the meta-analysis. Statistical significance was reported in four from five outcomes, such as self-related pain (during activity, MD -0.85, 95% CI, -1.55 to -0.14; P =0.02), knee flexibility (MD 7.59, 95% CI, 0.61 to 14.57; P =0.03), knee-related health status (WOMAC scale, MD -4.10, 95% CI, -7.75 to -0.45; P =0.03), and proprioceptive sensibility (MD -4.69, 95% CI, -7.75 to -1.63; P =0.003), while no significant enhancement was reported regarding knee muscle strength (MD 1.25, 95% CI, -0.03 to 2.53; P =0.06). Adverse events were not reported in any of the included trials. The overall quality of evidence was from moderate to very low. In conclusion, there is underpowered evidence to suggest that ET is effective in the treatment of knee OA. Large, well-designed RCTs with better designs are needed.
Highlights
Osteoarthritis (OA), a chronic degenerative arthritis, is the most common form of all types of joint disease and mainly occurs in later life
Systematic searches for literatures on the use of Elastic therapeutic taping (ET) in knee OA populations were conducted of PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Web of Science, PEDro, Research Gate, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese BioMedical Literature Database (CBM), and Wanfang Database from inception to 28 September 2016.Both relevant conference and other literature that might have contained additional data were searched by search items such as “elastic taping”, “kinesiotape”, “knee osteoarthritis”, and “Randomized Controlled Trials”, and for details of the search strategies, see File S1
We found significant improvements with ET for WOMAC assessment in both long-term (MD −4.47, 95% CI, −7.69 to −1.25; P=0.006; P for heterogeneity=0.16, I2=45%) and total (MD −4.10, 95% CI, −7.75 to −0.45; P =0.003; P for heterogeneity=0.002, I2=69%) effects (Fig. 5A), and the difference between groups was clinically significant with Minimal Clinical Important Difference (MCID) for WOMAC global and subscale scores ranged from 0.67-0.75 for improvement in individuals with knee OA[40]
Summary
Osteoarthritis (OA), a chronic degenerative arthritis, is the most common form of all types of joint disease and mainly occurs in later life. Effects of Elastic Therapeutic Taping on Knee Osteoarthritis decline have been associated with reduced muscle strength, poor proprioception, and impaired self-reported knee status [5,6] Due to all these symptoms, it may be anticipated that knee instability will worsen over time. It was suggested that the therapeutic mechanism of ET should be related to the muscle fascia, tendon symptoms, and performance enhancement which were induced by improving circulation and lymphatic drainage, but the application skills of ET have not been standardized and the elastic tension has been frequently applied depended on the clinicians’ experience so far It has many proposed benefits, such as the provision of structural support, relief of swelling and inflammation, excitation and inhibition of muscle activity, and adjustment of blood and lymph flow [10,11]. For individuals with knee OA, the self-reported pain was considered to be a limiting factor for physical function and strength, and as the disease progressed, a pain–weakness–pain vicious circle would be formed [16]
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