Investigation of the effect of EARLY period kinesio tape on pain, edema and function in patients with artroscopic rotator cuff repair

There are very few studies in the literature on the post-surgical effects of kinesio taping. The aim of our study is to investigate the effectiveness of kinesio taping after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Forty-five patients who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair were included in the study. Participants were randomly divided into 3 groups as kinesio taping (KT, n=15), sham taping (ST, n=15) and control (n=15). The conservative physiotherapy program was applied to all individuals participating in the study. The conservative physiotherapy program covered the first 6 weeks after surgery. Kinesio taping was additionally applied to the patients in the KT group. In addition to the patients in the ST group, sham taping was performed. During the treatment, pain (visual analog scale), edema and functional scores (Western-Ontario Rotator Cuff Index, Modified Constant-Murley Shoulder Score, Revised Oxford Shoulder Score, Shoulder Pain and Disability Index) were evaluated at certain intervals. Baseline characteristics of the groups were homogeneous (p>0.05). It was observed that the three groups improved significantly in all evaluation parameters according to time (p<0.05). When the results were analyzed in terms of group*time interactions, there was no difference between the groups in all parameters (p>0.05). According to the results of the study, the effectiveness of kinesio taping after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair was not found.