Short-term effectiveness of kinesio taping as therapeutic tool in conservative treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Kinesio taping can relieve symptoms and enhance functions in patients with mild-to-moderate carpal tunnel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The effectiveness of Kinesio Taping (KT) for mild-to-moderate Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) remains controversial.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate both the short-term and long-term efficacy of KT in the management of CTS.

METHODS

Electronic searches were conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Scopus databases up to October 2024. Randomized controlled trials comparing KT with control (sham, no intervention, or basic treatment) or other conservative treatment were included. The revised Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (ROB-2) was used to assess the risk of bias across studies. Meta-analysis was performed to pool data from studies, calculating Mean Differences (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for continuous outcomes.

RESULTS

Fourteen studies with 637 participants were included. Kinesio Taping (KT) significantly improved long-term pain relief compared to control (MD = -1.14, 95% CI: -1.69 to -0.59, p < .001). Additionally, KT led to significant improvements in symptoms and functional status. KT showed similar therapeutic outcomes to orthoses, and combining KT with orthoses provided greater short-term pain relief than orthoses alone (MD = -0.94, 95% CI: -1.76 to -0.11, p = .03).

CONCLUSION

Low to moderate quality evidence indicates that KT may effectively improve long-term pain relief and functional outcomes in patients with CTS. Additionally, low quality evidence suggests that the combination of KT and orthoses may provide greater short-term pain relief.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42024555320.

Immediate effects of Kinesio taping in carpal tunnel syndrome: A randomized controlled double-blind ultrasonographic study

BACKGROUND

The effects of Kinesio taping (KT) in carpal tunnel syndrome are controversial.

PURPOSE

This study aimed to examine whether KT has any effect on the skin, subcutaneous tissue, and median nerve measurements and to compare the effects of two different KT applications.

STUDY DESIGN

This is a prospective, double-blinded, randomized trial. This study was prospectively registered on the clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05475197). A total of 34 wrists (21 patients) who were clinically and electrophysiologically diagnosed with mild/moderate carpal tunnel syndrome were randomly divided into two KT intervention groups (group 1: neural technique and area correction technique and group 2: area correction technique).

METHODS

At baseline and immediately after the removal of KT (48 hours), pain was assessed with visual analog scale, hand grip strength with a hand-held dynamometer, and pinch strength using a pinch meter. Likewise, using ultrasound, skin and subcutaneous tissue thicknesses, median nerve cross-sectional area and flattening ratio, as well as median nerve depth were measured at the carpal tunnel inlet and outlet levels.

RESULTS

While there was significant improvement in the pain scores (compared to the baseline) immediately after the KT in both groups (group 1: p = 0.03, ηp2 = 0.44; group 2: p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.71), there was no difference in between (p = 0.07, ηp2 = 0.10). Grip strength significantly increased only in group 2 (p = 0.01, ηp2 = 0.35). None of the sonographic measurements displayed significant difference either within or between groups at baseline and after KT (all p > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

While pain scores improved after KT, they were not coupled with any morphologic changes assessed by ultrasound.