Effectiveness of kinesiotape and elastic adhesive bandage in patients with post stroke walking dysfunction: A case study

Introduction

Hemiplegic gait is a mix of errors and compensatory movements that are caused by those areas of the body that are still working. Proprioceptive input has been used a lot in kinesiotaping to trigger (or inhibit) muscles. However, limited information is available on the potential impact of applying kinesiotape on weak or paralysed muscles, on the gait of poststroke gait dysfunction patients. Also, the fact that kinesiotape is hard to find and costly keeps it from being used widely. Therefore, the investigation of elastic adhesive bandage as an easily accessible and low-cost substitute for kinesiotape is investigated in this study.

Methodology

Thirty post stroke walking dysfunction patients were recruited, whose ages were between 55 and 65 years, and the subjects were randomly assigned into two groups for the experimental study. The first group received kinesiotaping and the second group received an elastic adhesive bandage. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Wisconsin Gait Scale (WGS) were used for assessment.

Results

It was evident that the first test group outcomes were similar to that of the second test group. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and the Wisconsin Gait Scale (WGS) did not show any changes between the groups. However, this study found that kinesiotaping improves gait dysfunction post-stroke relatively better than elastic adhesive bandaging.

Conclusion

The application of kinesio taping and elastic adhesive bandaging taping showed significant functional improvement to rehabilitation in patients. However, kinesiotaping had a better response in gait and balance than that of elastic adhesive bandage.