The effects of kinesio tape on circulation and healing: a meta-analysis

A popular topic during the 2008 Olympics was a type of tape that athletes were wearing. The tape was seen being worn by many different athletes on any number of body parts. The tape that these athletes were wearing is called Kinesio Tape (KT). KT was made to resemble the skin, in that it is elastic like the skin and can be stretched and return to its original property (Kinesio Taping Method, 2013). Since KT has become more popular, the claims of what KT can do has risen. The purpose of this study was to perform a meta-analysis on the effects of KT on circulation and healing. A strategy for a literature search was established using key words to uncover and identify relevant research for this study. To determine if articles could be used in this study certain inclusion criteria were implemented during the article search. Articles were looked at based on first their title, then abstract, and lastly the full article. Once data was collected, an analysis was run through the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis version 2 software to determine effect size and heterogeneity of variance. The results of this random effects model on Kinesio-Tape and the decrease of swelling showed a significant result (k=12, g=-0.450, 95% CI -0.851 to -0.048, p\u3c0.05). Moderators that were significant in the analysis were application, location, and country. The results showed that overall, KT had a significant effect on swelling. Both articles by Ristow et al. (2013) and Tozzi et al. (2014) determined the application of KT increased the peak of swelling to happen within 24 hours of surgery, instead of being 2 days postoperative, allowing the swelling to decrease faster