Abstract
Objective
To assess the efficacy of Kinesio taping (KT) on venous symptoms, quality of life,
severity, pain, edema, range of ankle motion (ROAM), and peripheral muscle myoelectrical
activity in lower limbs of postmenopausal women with mild chronic venous insufficiency
(CVI).
Design
Double-blinded randomized controlled trial with concealed allocation.
Setting
Clinical setting.
Participants
Consecutive postmenopausal women (N=123; age range, 62–67y) with early-stage CVI.
None of the participants withdrew because of adverse effects.
Intervention
Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group for standardized KT application
for external gastrocnemius (EG) and internal gastrocnemius (IG) muscle enhancement
and ankle function correction or a placebo control group for sham KT application.
Both interventions were performed 3 times a week during a 4-week period.
Main Outcome Measures
Venous symptoms, CVI severity, pain, leg volume, gastrocnemius electromyographic data,
ROAM, and quality of life were recorded at baseline and after treatment.
Results
The experimental group evidenced significant improvements in pain distribution, venous
claudication, swelling, heaviness, muscle cramps, pruritus, and CVI severity score
(P≤.042). Both groups reported significant reductions in pain (experimental group: 95%
confidence interval [CI], 1.6 to 2.1; control group: 95% CI, −0.2 to 0.3). There were
no significant changes in either group in quality of life, leg volume, or ROAM. The
experimental group showed significant improvements in root mean square signals (right
leg: EG 95% CI, 2.99–5.84; IG 95% CI, 1.02–3.42; left leg: EG 95% CI, 3.00–6.25; IG
95% CI, 3.29–5.3) and peak maximum contraction (right leg: EG 95% CI, 4.8–22.7; IG
95% CI, 2.67–24.62; left leg: EG 95% CI, 2.37–20.44; IG 95% CI, 2.55–25.53), which
were not changed in controls.
Conclusions
KT may reduce venous symptoms, pain, and their severity and enhance gastrocnemius
muscle activity, but its effects on quality of life, edema, and ROAM remain uncertain.
KT may have a placebo effect on venous pain.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
C1 (telangiectasies or reticular veins), C2 (varicose veins), C3 (edema), CI (confidence interval), CIVIQ (quality of life questionnaire in chronic lower limb venous insufficiency), CVI (chronic venous insufficiency), EG (external gastrocnemius), EMG (electromyography), GM (gastrocnemius muscle), IG (internal gastrocnemius), KT (Kinesio taping), ROAM (range of ankle motion), VAS (visual analog scale)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 14, 2013
Footnotes
Registration No.: SPN000-609 (Bioethics committee on clinical research of University of Granada, Spain).
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has conferred or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
