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Research Quest on shoulder strapping & taping

Research Quest on shoulder strapping & taping
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Here's a quick note on shoulder strapping and taping:


We can't really prove that it works.


Let me quickly explain...


2020 review by Ann Cools (VIP shoulder guru) and her team looked at 11 studies that examined the effect of taping on scapular movements and muscle activity.


They found that the majority of the results are inconsistent.


So it is not that taping and strapping does or doesn't work - the problem is that we've never compared apples to apples before.


You could cherry-pick studies to find that it works while at the same time also finding studies to show that it doesn't.


They did find two interesting things, though:


1) Regardless of technique - taping improved the upward rotation of the scapula.


2) Regardless of technique - taping reduced upper trapezius activity.


Personally, I love strapping.


It allows the patient to walk away feeling as if you've done something solid and that it was worth their time, effort and money to come to see you.


References

Yildiz TI, Castelein B, Harput G, Duzgun I, Cools A. Does scapular corrective taping alter periscapular muscle activity and 3-dimensional scapular kinematics? A systematic review. J Hand Ther. 2020 Jul-Sep;33(3):361-370. doi: 10.1016/j.jht.2019.03.001. Epub 2019 Apr 5. PMID: 30962122.

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Written by Kyle van Heerden

Online Educator at Research Raconteur

Top 10 Research Quests from Research Raconteur

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