Kinesio Tape vs Neuromuscular Stimulation for Conservative Treatment of Hemiplegic Shoulder: A Randomized Controlled Trial
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Copyright: © 2020 . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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Abstract
This study aimed to compare the effects of kinesiotaping and neuromuscular electric stimulation (NMES) on pain, and motor activity and function in patients with upper extremity hemiplegia. A total of 67 outpatients who acquired ischemic stroke with the upper extremity involvement were enrolled in the study. The patients were randomly assigned to an NMES group a kinesiotape implementation group and a control group in addition to the physiotherapy. Treatment duration was 4 weeks. Motor Activity Log- 28, Fugl–Meyer Sensorimotor Assessment Scale (FM), and visual analog scale (VAS) were used for the assessment. A significant improvement in FM (taping group, p ≤ 0.001, NMES, p ≤ 0.001, control group, p ≤ 0.001) and motor activity scores was found in all groups. Although this effect was superior in function for the taping group (p = 0.027). A significant decrease was found in the pain intensity both at rest (taping group: P ≤ 0.007; NMES: P ≤ 0.014) and with activity for the taping and NMES groups (taping: p≤ 0.010; NMES: p≤ 0.016). Whereas no significant decrease was found in the control group either at the rest or with activity (p = 0.054 for both). No reverse effect was reported. Data suggested that all the treatment options were effective on motor activity and pain but the kinesiotaping seemed to have a superior effect on function activity (p = 0.054 for both). No reverse effect was reported. Data suggested that all the treatment options were effective on motor activity and pain but the kinesiotaping seemed to have a superior effect on function.