Effects of Taping on Pain and Functional Outcome of Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Pilot Randomized Single-blind Clinical Trial

Background: To determine the effects of knee taping in combination with exercise and medical treatment on functional outcome and pain of patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Materials and Methods: In a randomized single-blinded clinical trial, 36 patients with knee OA were randomly assigned to two study groups. Both groups received exercise and medical therapy for 6 weeks. In addition, the first group (20 patients) received taping in the first 3 weeks. Pain severity (assessed by visual analog scaling), weekly amount of analgesics consumption, timed get up and go test (TUG), and step tests were recorded at baseline, 3 and 6 weeks after the treatment and were further compared between two study groups. Results: There was no significant difference between two groups in pain severity score ( P = 0.228), step test score ( P = 0.771), TUG test score ( P = 0.821) and weekly amount of analgesics consumption ( P = 0.873) at baseline. After 3 weeks, weekly amount of analgesics consumption ( P = 0.006), pain severity ( P < 0.001) was significantly lower in taping group whereas step test score ( P = 0.006) was significantly higher in the taping group. After 6 weeks, patients in taping group had significantly lower pain severity ( P = 0.011) and higher step test score ( P = 0.042). However, there was no significant difference in TUG test score ( P = 0.443) and weekly amount of analgesics consumption ( P = 0.270) between two groups. Conclusion: Therapeutic knee taping may be an effective method for short-term management of pain and disability in patients with knee OA.