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MRI analyses show that kinesio taping affects much more than just the targeted superficial tissues and causes heterogeneous deformations within the whole limb

PainSci » bibliography » Pamuk et al 2015
updated
Tags: treatment, devices, taping, controversy, debunkery

PainSci notes on Pamuk 2015:

Having read (only) the abstract, they seem to have gone to great effort to prove the obvious, which is that “everything is connected.” I don’t particularly object to proving it in this context, but it does not surprise me, or interest me much. Of course taping “affects” and “deforms” non-local tissue to some degree. So does pulling your finger and pinching your cheek.

But it also means almost nothing in and of itself. Does deforming non-local tissue have any clinical relevance? Probably these researchers believe it does, and that’s why they did the research. But their findings don’t actually establish anything except that, yeah, tape pulls on stuff, which pulls on other stuff — with completely unknown but likely very trivial biological significance. •slow clap•

original abstract Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.

Kinesio taping (KT) is widely used in the treatment of sports injuries and various neuro-musculoskeletal disorders. However, it is considered as selectively effective on targeted tissues and its mechanical effects have not been quantified objectively. Ascribed to continuity of muscular and connective tissues, mechanical loading imposed can have widespread heterogeneous effects. The aim was to characterize the mechanical effects of KT objectively and to test the hypotheses that KT causes acutely, local deformations not necessarily (I) in agreement with tape adhering direction and (II) limited to the directly targeted tissues. High-resolution 3D magnetic resonance image sets were acquired in healthy human subjects (n=5) prior to and acutely after KT application over the skin along m. tibialis anterior (TA). Hip, knee and ankle angles were kept constant. Demons image registration algorithm was used to calculate local tissue deformations within the lower leg, in vivo. Mean peak tissue strains were significantly higher than strain artifacts. Only KT-to-TA region in part shows local deformations in agreement with tape adhering direction whereas, superficial skin, the rest of KT-to-TA and TA regions show deformations (up to 51.5% length change) in other directions. Non-targeted tissues also show sizable heterogeneous deformations, but in smaller amplitudes. Inter-subject variability is notable. Magnetic resonance imaging analyses allow for a detailed assessment of local tissue deformation occurring acutely after KT application. The findings confirm our hypotheses and characterize how KT affects the underlying tissues, both immediately targeted and distant. This allows revealing mechanisms that can affect clinical outcomes of KT objectively.

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