Author(s)

Jonathan Galvão Tenório x Cavalcante¹, Maria do Desterro Costae Silva², Jessiane Tenório da Fonseca Silva¹, Clarissa Cotrim dos Anjos², Renata Sampaio Rodrigues Soutinho^3*

¹School of Physical Therapy, Alagoas State University of Health Sciences (UNCISAL), Maceió, Brazil.
²Alagoas State University of Health Sciences (UNCISAL), Maceió, Brazil.
³CESMAC University, Maceió, Brazil.

Introduction: Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) is the second most frequent cause of death in the world. Nevertheless, most victims do survive and need treatment, and hand function is one that has to be dealt with in the rehabilitation process. Kinesio® Taping (KT) is a bandaging method that can be applied along the muscle fibers to provide stimulation. Studies have shown its efficacy in providing afferent stimuli to weakened muscles, thus eliciting contraction with greater recruiting of motor units and inducing neuroplasticity. Benefits to the paresthesia hand have not been reported. Objective: Investigate the effects of KT on hand function in hemiparetic patients. Material and Methods: An evaluator-blinded, randomized clinical trial involving stroke victims was carried out in a physical therapy outpatient clinic. One group underwent KT intervention and the other was a control group. The Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and the Box and Block Test (BBT) were used as assessment tools. A data entry form was used in the Epi-info 7 software and descriptive statistics was thus calculated. The software BioStat 5.0 was employed when doing statistical tests. Associations were regarded as statistically significant when p < 0.05. Results: Eight individuals were randomly assigned to two groups. All those who had received treatment with KT had spasticity improved by one point, but there was no significant improvement in BBT. Conclusion: KT was effective when it came to improving spasticity and it may be an option in rehab, but it had no effect on gross manual dexterity. Nevertheless, it can be of help as part of a functional training program.

Stroke, Rehabilitation, Physical Therapy, Kinesio® Taping, Hands

Galvão Tenório x Cavalcante, J. , do Desterro Costae Silva, M. , Tenório da Fonseca Silva, J. , Cotrim dos Anjos, C. and Sampaio Rodrigues Soutinho, R. (2018) Effect of Kinesio Taping on Hand Function in Hemiparetic Patients. World Journal of Neuroscience, 8, 293-302. doi: 10.4236/wjns.2018.82023.