The possibility of the use of Kinesio Taping in internal, oncologic, and neurologic diseases: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES:This systematic review aimed to present the current body of knowledge on Kinesio Taping (KT) as a treatment method for patients with internal, oncologic, and neurologic diseases. DATA SOURCES:PubMed, MEDLINE, CENTRAL (Cochrane Library), EMBASE Excerpta Medica, and Google Scholar. STUDY SELECTION:The papers were identified through term searches in digital research databases. Based on the review of the available 152 research articles, 12 papers on internal, oncologic, and neurologic diseases were selected. Two of this review's authors, working independently, selected the papers to be included in the analyzed sample, performed a bias risk assessment and assessed the quality of the evidence for the main effects using the Internal Validity Score (IVS) (PEDro) approach. A simplified version of the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (OCEBM) system was used to evaluate the evidence. DATA EXTRACTION:The full text of each relevant study was read by two independent reviewers to extract data. The collected database was subjected to matrix processing. Variable vectors for individually analyzed categories were designated and used in the meta-analysis. DATA SYNTHESIS:There are few prospective, randomized controlled trials on KT that include a sufficiently large cohort. Only few of the reviewed papers which discuss the principles of KT met the criteria of scientifically rigorous research. CONCLUSIONS:We found some evidence to support the use of KT in clinical practice in patients with neurologic, oncologic, and internal diseases. However, there is a need for further clinical trials on the effectiveness of the use of the KT method.