Efeito do Kinesio Taping® na dor, edema, desempenho físico e percepção global de mudança em idosas com osteoartrite de joelho: ensaio clínico, controlado, randomizado e cego

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common diseases in the elderly population and the knee is the most affected joint, representing a potential cause of disability and reduced quality of life. Kinesio taping® (KT) appears as a therapeutic alternative for the treatment of these individuals. However, the current evidence on this technique is limited and conflicting, which makes its effects on the symptomatology of the disease still uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the effects of KT application on pain, physical performance, edema and overall perception of change in elderly women with knee OA (KOA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a controlled, randomized, blinded clinical trial of 45 elderly women. Initially, all subjects underwent pain evaluation by the Visual Analogue Scale, quadriceps muscle strength by dynamometry, physical function by the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) and by the 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) and edema by means of perimetry. After the initial evaluation, the volunteers were randomly assigned to one of the three intervention groups: G1 (control group), who underwent an educational class on OAJ; G2 (KT group without tension) in which KT was applied without tension on the rectus femoris and knee joint; and G3 (KT group with tension) where two KT techniques were applied with 30% and 10% tension, respectively, on the rectus femoris and the knee joint. Immediately after the intervention, volunteers were reevaluated for pain and muscle strength, and 72 hours after the initial evaluation all variables were reevaluated, including the Global Perception of Change. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Levene tests were used to verify the normality and homogeneity of the data, respectively. Comparisons between groups were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the mixed model. For all statistical analyzes a significance level of 5% (p <0.05) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were adopted. RESULTS: In the analysis between groups, no significant differences were observed for any of the analyzed variables, in any of the moments. Volunteers allocated to the KT group with tension and KT without tension reported to have experienced beneficial change with treatment. CONCLUSION: KT was not able to reduce pain and edema, as well as improve the physical performance of elderly women with OAJ. However, those who receive the bandage independently of the tension had a self-perception of improvement.