Efficacy of Kinesiotaping on functional outcomes, pain and edema in the early rehabilitation after total knee arthroplasty surgery: a randomized controlled trial

Objective The aim of our study was to verify whether the application of Kinesiotaping in addition to usual treatment was superior to usual treatment alone regarding functional outcome, pain and edema in the first 13 days after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery.

Design Open-label, parallel two-groups, Randomized controlled trial.

Setting Galeazzi hospital, Milan.

Participants Inpatients, aged between 50 and 85 years old, waiting TKA were invited to voluntarily participate to the trial. The study sample (n=71) was 42.3% men and the mean age was 68.1 (±9) years. A 1:1 ratio randomization list, to allocate the patient either to a Kinesiotaping Group (KT) or to a control (CON) group.

Interventions KT and CON groups received the same volume of standard post-TKA rehabilitation. KT was additionally treated with lymphatic correction applications of Kinesiotaping (Kinesio® Tex Classic, Mogliano Veneto, IT) on day 3rd (± 1) and 7th (± 1) post-surgery (2 applications during the rehabilitation period). Each application lasted 4-5 days before removal. KT was removed before patients discharge

Main Outcome Measure(s) 1) Circumference at knee level; 2) VAS for pain; 3) 10 Meter Walking Test; 4) Timed Up and Go Test; 5) passive knee range of motion; 6) body composition; 7) Functional Independence Measure; 8) Modified Barthel Index. Data were collected at T0 (before surgery), T1 (3±1 days after surgery), T2 (7±1 days after surgery), T3 (13±1 days after surgery)

Results No inter-group differences were found between KT and CON at T0, T1, T2 and T3. An effect of time was observed for all outcome measures.

Conclusions No superiority of Kinesiotaping was observed compared to usual rehabilitation treatment. Based on these results, the use of Kinesiotaping applied in the early stages of rehabilitation after TKA is not recommended.