Does taping in addition to physiotherapy improve the outcomes in subacromial impingement syndrome? A systematic review

Background: Taping is used with or without other interventions for many purposes, especially to manage pain and improve functional activity in patients with shoulder pain. Objectives: The aim of this review was to determine whether any taping technique in addition to physiotherapy care is more effective than physiotherapy care alone in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome. Methods: A systematic search of Cochrane Database of Systematic Review, MEDLINE (EBSCO), Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), CINAHL (EBSCO), PUBMED, AMED, EMBASE (OVID), The Kinesio Kinesio (R) Taping Method, Kinesio (R) Tex Tape UK and International websites (www.kinesiotaping.co.uk; www.kinesiotaping.com) was conducted to June 2015. The outcome measures were pain, disability, range of motion and muscle strength. As data were not suitable for meta-analysis, narrative synthesis were applied. Results: Three randomized controlled trials and one controlled trial (135 patients) were included. The results were conflicting and weak on the effectiveness of taping as an adjunct therapy for improvement of pain, disability, range of motion and muscle strength. Conclusion: Clinical taping in addition to physiotherapy interventions (e.g. exercise, electrotherapy, and manual therapy) might be an optional modality for managing patients with shoulder impingement syndrome, especially for the initial stage of the treatment; however, we need further robust, placebo controlled and consistent studies to prove whether it is more effective than physiotherapy interventions without taping.