KINESIO TAPING AS THERAPEUTIC REMEDY IN THE PAINFUL SHOULDER IN HEMIPLEGIA AFTER AVE (CEREBROVASCULAR ACCIDENT):

A REVIEW

Abstract

Developed in Japan in the 1970s by Kenzo Kase chiropractor, the Kinesio Taping method has been used in neurological rehabilitation in several pathological conditions, such as hemiplegia after stroke, spinal cord injury and cerebral palsy. The aim of this study was to analyze results from clinical studies that assessed the impact of the method on endpoint pain related to the hemiplegic shoulder in individuals following stroke. This study is justified since hemiplegic shoulder pain negatively impacts the quality of life of these patients and may interfere with rehabilitation. We chose to search the database of PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database) through randomized clinical trials with scores of 5 or more, in a scale of up to 10, published in English, with up to 10 years of publication. We found 3 randomized clinical trials. In these studies, all individuals with painful shoulder following stroke who received application of the Kinesio Taping method had improvement in the short-term pain outcome. In these studies, the method was superior to placebo. From these studies, it is suggested that the method is an alternative of physiotherapeutic treatment in the shoulder of hemiplegic individuals. Further studies should be performed comparing the method to other methods and also verifying results in the medium and long term.