TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of multidirectional elastic tape on pain and function in individuals with lateral elbow tendinopathy
T2 - A randomised crossover trial
AU - Hill, Caitlin E.
AU - Heales, Luke J.
AU - Stanton, Robert
AU - Kean, Crystal O.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: A Sports Medicine Australia Research Foundation Grant was received to fund advertising and participant re-imbursement. CH was supported by an Australian Commonwealth Government Research Training Program Stipend. Tape used for the intervention was supplied by Strapit Medical & Sports Supplies Pty. Ltd. The funders played no role in data collection, analysis or interpretation, and impose no restrictions on publication of the study findings.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023/8
Y1 - 2023/8
N2 - Objective: To investigate the effects of multidirectional elastic tape on pain and function in individuals with lateral elbow tendinopathy. Study Design: Randomised crossover trial. Setting: Biomechanics laboratory. Subjects: 27 participants (11 females, mean (SD) age: 48.6 (11.9) years) with clinically diagnosed lateral elbow tendinopathy of at least six weeks’ duration. Interventions: Tensioned multidirectional elastic tape applied over the wrist, compared to control tape (untensioned), and no tape conditions. Main measures: Pain-free grip strength and pressure pain threshold were recorded at three timepoints for each condition: baseline, post-application, and following an exercise circuit. Change scores were calculated as the post-application or post-exercise value minus baseline. Repeated-measure analyses of variance were used to examine differences between conditions. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in pain-free grip strength between conditions (flexed position: F2,52 = 0.02, p = 0.98; extended position: F2,52 = 2.26, p = 0.12) or across timepoints (post-application vs post-exercise) (flexed position: F1,26 = 0.94, p = 0.34; extended position: F1,26 = 0.79, p = 0.38). Seven participants (26%) increased pain-free grip strength above the minimal detectable change following application of multidirectional elastic tape. There were no statistically significant differences in pressure pain threshold between conditions (affected lateral epicondyle: F1.51,39.17 = 0.54, p = 0.54) or across timepoints (affected lateral epicondyle: F1,26 = 0.94, p = 0.34). Conclusion: Tensioned multidirectional elastic tape may not immediately improve pain-free grip strength or pressure pain threshold in our lateral elbow tendinopathy population; however, individual variation may exist.
AB - Objective: To investigate the effects of multidirectional elastic tape on pain and function in individuals with lateral elbow tendinopathy. Study Design: Randomised crossover trial. Setting: Biomechanics laboratory. Subjects: 27 participants (11 females, mean (SD) age: 48.6 (11.9) years) with clinically diagnosed lateral elbow tendinopathy of at least six weeks’ duration. Interventions: Tensioned multidirectional elastic tape applied over the wrist, compared to control tape (untensioned), and no tape conditions. Main measures: Pain-free grip strength and pressure pain threshold were recorded at three timepoints for each condition: baseline, post-application, and following an exercise circuit. Change scores were calculated as the post-application or post-exercise value minus baseline. Repeated-measure analyses of variance were used to examine differences between conditions. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in pain-free grip strength between conditions (flexed position: F2,52 = 0.02, p = 0.98; extended position: F2,52 = 2.26, p = 0.12) or across timepoints (post-application vs post-exercise) (flexed position: F1,26 = 0.94, p = 0.34; extended position: F1,26 = 0.79, p = 0.38). Seven participants (26%) increased pain-free grip strength above the minimal detectable change following application of multidirectional elastic tape. There were no statistically significant differences in pressure pain threshold between conditions (affected lateral epicondyle: F1.51,39.17 = 0.54, p = 0.54) or across timepoints (affected lateral epicondyle: F1,26 = 0.94, p = 0.34). Conclusion: Tensioned multidirectional elastic tape may not immediately improve pain-free grip strength or pressure pain threshold in our lateral elbow tendinopathy population; however, individual variation may exist.
KW - Biomechanical tape
KW - hand grip strength
KW - lateral epicondylalgia
KW - pain threshold
KW - tennis elbow
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85147454125&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/02692155231152817
DO - 10.1177/02692155231152817
M3 - Article
C2 - 36727206
AN - SCOPUS:85147454125
SN - 0269-2155
VL - 37
SP - 1041
EP - 1051
JO - Clinical Rehabilitation
JF - Clinical Rehabilitation
IS - 8
ER -