Comparing the effects of no intervention with therapeutic exercise, and exercise with additional Kinesio tape in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome. A three-arm randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Objective: To investigate if adding Kinesio tape to therapeutic exercise is an effective treatment to improve clinical outcomes compared to therapeutic exercise alone and no intervention, in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome. Design: Three-arm randomized controlled trial Setting: Outpatient setting Subjects: One hundred and twenty patients (mean (SD): age 37.8 (5.4)) with shoulder impingement syndrome. Intervention: Patients were randomly assigned to eight-weeks therapeutic exercise alone, therapeutic exercise with Kinesio tape, and control group. Main measures: Pain was measured with a numerical rating scale and disability and scapular kinematics were measured with a relative questionnaire and motion analysis software respectively, at baseline and after eight-weeks intervention. Results: There was significant differences in therapeutic exercise with Kinesio tape group vs. therapeutic exercise alone and control group respectively for pain ( d = –0.34, P = 0.042; and d = –1.53, P = 0.001), disability ( d = –0.46, P = 0.024; and d = –2.18, P = 0.001), scapular upward rotation at sagittal plane ( d = 0.33, P = 0.033; and d = 0.68, P = 0.001), scapular plane ( d = 0.18, P = 0.045; and d = 0.43, P = 0.001), scapular tilt at sagittal plane ( d = 0.55, P = 0.043; and d = 1.39, P = 0.001), and scapular plane ( d = 0.29, P = 0.034; and d = 0.58, P = 0.001). Therapeutic exercise alone was superior over control group in all significant outcomes ( P < 0.05). Conclusion: Although therapeutic exercises alone showed positive effect on clinical outcomes, adding Kinesio tape to therapeutic exercises had more significant effects with larger effect sizes. Adding Kinesio tape to therapeutic exercise may be of some assistance to clinicians in improving clinical outcomes in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome.

The relationship between shoulder pain and shoulder disability in women: The mediating role of sleep quality and psychological disorders

“…Various interventions such as therapeutic exercise, cognitive behavioral approach, and acupuncture therapy have been developed to reduce shoulder pain. [21][22][23] If the interventions can be customized for suitability to each specific subject, these will be effective in reducing shoulder pain and shoulder disability.…”

The influence of exercise therapy dosing on pain and functional outcomes in patients with subacromial pain syndrome: A systematic review

“…The most reported outcome measure for pain was the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Disability of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) for function. Large effect sizes for pain and function were found for 18 studies, 30,32–39,41–49 medium effect sizes for six studies, 31,34,36,40,41,50 and small or no effects for four studies. 31,35,41,44 Table 2 includes the effect sizes for all studies.…”

“…The total number of exercise therapy sessions for studies assessing functional outcomes ranged from 18 to 204 30–33,35–40,42,43,45–47,50 and from 24 to 204 for pain outcomes 30–33,35,36,38–40,43,45–47,49,50 over a duration of three to 12 weeks, and included both supervised and unsupervised sessions.…”

“…[33][34][35][36] One outlier study, with a reported 12-24 week duration, had small effect sizes using the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) and Constant Murley (CM) functional scales. 44 Large effect sizes were found for pain outcomes in six groups at four weeks, 30,38,41,45,49 four groups at six weeks, 32,42,43 three at eight weeks, [46][47][48] and six at 12-week durations. [33][34][35][36] Pain outcomes were not investigated beyond 12 weeks of intervention in any of the studies.…”

“…It was surprising that many studies omitted information on "when and how much" exercise was delivered, including the number of sessions, the schedule and duration of visits and its intensity or dose. 30,34,39,41,46,48,49 Attaching descriptive exercise appendices with these details may better equip clinicians with tools to improve therapeutic outcomes of pain and function. The actual adherence (described as the extent to which the delivered intervention varied from the intended intervention) 18 was infrequently described with sufficient detail.…”