EFFECTIVENESS OF KINESIO TAPING IN THE MANAGEMENT OF KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS - A PROSPECTIVE STUDY.

Background: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) joint disease most commonly occurs in the elderly population, and it causes significant pain and functional limitations. Manual therapy, physical therapy modalities, taping techniques, patient education and therapeutic exercises, orthosis, and more recently, extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) are all used to treat knee OA. Kinesio taping (KT) is a therapeutic technique used to treat knee OA. Material and methods: This is a prospective study, non-probable sampling technique conducted in the Department of Orthopaedics, Sree Mookambika Institute of Medical Sciences, Kulasekharam from June 2023 to December 2023 for a period of 6 months, the study participants which include patient aged >40 and <70 years with Osteoarthritis knee population; Grade 0, I and II Osteoarthritis knee (Kellerman and Lawrence classification) with symptoms for more than 3 months according to the ACR clinical classification criteria and pain score of more than 4 cm on 10 cm visual analog scale (VAS) will be included in this study and exclude the patient with aged < 40 years Grade III and IV- Osteoarthritis knee (Kellerman and Lawrence classification), Active infection in the knee, Secondary Osteoarthritis, Previous knee surgery, Previous intra-articular knee injection. Results: Mean VAS score of 30 patients at pre-procedural, 6 weeks,3 months and 6 months follow up are 7.5±2, 7.0±1.5, 5.6±1.4 and 4.5±1.5 respectively and mean total WOMAC score of 30 patients at at pre-procedural, 6 weeks,3 months and 6 months follow up are 74±8.3, 65±8.1, 60± 7.5 55±12.2 respectively. Which shows a significant reduced in pain and improvement in the functional outcome. Conclusion: KT (kinesio tape) was found to improve pain and physical functioning of subjects with early knee osteoarthritis. The results of this study showed significant kinesio tape effects in the WOMAC subscales: pain, stiffness, and physical function and VAS score. This technique is recommended for early osteoarthritis not for the late stages. This technique is cost effective and easily available. WOMAC and VAS score are useful tool in assessing the Knee functional outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]