SPORTS
MEDICINE REHABILITATION SECTION
THE
EFFECTS OF THERAPEUTIC TAPING
ON PATELLOFEMORAL PAIN SYNDROME. A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Zirinoglou
Penelope, Aftosmidis Dimitis, Porfuriadou Anthi
Physiotherapy
Department TEI Thessaloniki, Greece
Background. Patellofemoral pain
syndrome is a condition presenting with anterior knee pain or pain
behind the patella. It is very common among the athletes and especially
to those who have to run and to jump. The physiotherapy intervention
has very good results to the patellofemoral pain. One technique that is
commonly used is patella taping. Objective. To examine the efficacy of
patellar taping on pain control, knee joint kinematics and patellar
positioning in subjects with patellofemoral pain syndrome. Methods. We
searched the English –language literature as MEDLINE,PEDRO,
SPORT Discus, using the key words Patellar taping, Therapeutic taping,
McConnell taping, Patellofemoral pain, Knee pain. All studies were
exclusively recruited patients diagnosed with patellofemoral pain
syndrome. We found 14 studies which were divided into 3 categories
based on primary outcome measures: 3 were randomized controlled trials
on treatment methods and pain, 9 studies on neuromuscular control and 2
on patellar positioning.
Results. After the analysis that we
make we found that most of the studies show significant reduction in
pain (up to 78%), increase the ability of knee flexion and knee control.
Conclusion.
Patellar taping seems to reduce pain and produces clinically meaningful
change during activities of daily living and rehabilitation exercises.
Although further studies are needed to investigate the effects of
patellar taping and possibly the mechanisms for treating patellofemoral
pain.
