Effects of Taping on Pain and Functional Outcome of Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Pilot Randomized Single-blind Clinical Trial

Abstract

Background:To determine the effects of knee taping in combination with exercise and medical treatment on functional outcome and pain of patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA).Materials and Methods:In a randomized single-blinded clinical trial, 36 patients with knee OA were randomly assigned to two study groups. Both groups received exercise and medical therapy for 6 weeks. In addition, the first group (20 patients) received taping in the first 3 weeks. Pain severity (assessed by visual analog scaling), weekly amount of analgesics consumption, timed get up and go test (TUG), and step tests were recorded at baseline, 3 and 6 weeks after the treatment and were further compared between two study groups.Results:There was no significant difference between two groups in pain severity score (P = 0.228), step test score (P = 0.771), TUG test score (P = 0.821) and weekly amount of analgesics consumption (P = 0.873) at baseline. After 3 weeks, weekly amount of analgesics consumption (P = 0.006), pain severity (P < 0.001) was significantly lower in taping group whereas step test score (P = 0.006) was significantly higher in the taping group. After 6 weeks, patients in taping group had significantly lower pain severity (P = 0.011) and higher step test score (P = 0.042). However, there was no significant difference in TUG test score (P = 0.443) and weekly amount of analgesics consumption (P = 0.270) between two groups.Conclusion:Therapeutic knee taping may be an effective method for short-term management of pain and disability in patients with knee OA.

Abnormal expression of miR‑4784 in chondrocytes of osteoarthritis and associations with chondrocyte hyperplasia

“…OA is one of the most common types of chronic arthritis and seriously affects the quality of life in the elderly population ( 1 – 3 ). Major pathological features of OA include a series of biological and/or morphological changes, such as the degeneration of articular cartilage, hyperosteogeny and/or sclerosis ( 16 ).…”

“…Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease characterized by progressive chondrocyte degeneration, synovial hyperplasia in joints, narrowing of the joint space and dysregulation of extracellular matrix metabolism ( 1 ). OA primarily affects the knee, hip and shoulder joints and the main symptoms include joint pain, swelling, joint deformity and limited mobility ( 2 ).…”

A Comparison Between the Effect of Combined Chain Exercises Plus Kinesio Taping With Combined Chain Exercises Alone in Knee Osteoarthritis

“…However, this study was a case series, and further studies are needed to support the efficacy of previous findings. Although previous studies [26][27][28] have examined the effect of KT in combination with exercises, these studies focused on exercises, which have no sufficient justification to ameliorate knee pain and disability in individuals with knee OA. Moreover, some studies 27,28 provided insufficient detail about the exercise prescriptions, making it difficult for the exercises to be used in the clinical setting.…”

Developments in Smart Multi-Function Gait Assistive Devices for the Prevention and Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis—A Literature Review

“…Various knee orthoses are commercially available, but many of them only provide joint stabilisation by strapping and compression, which can, nevertheless, be useful for injury prevention and pain management [33,34]. More specialised products incorporate abduction-adduction control, for example, by using inflatable bladders to regulate knee motion [35].…”