Kinesio taping combined with manual lymphatic drainage for lower limb swelling after total knee arthroplasty

Liu Sheng-fa; Zhang Feng

doi:10.3969/j.issn.2095-4344.2017.11.002

Abstract：BACKGROUND: Kinesio taping combined with manual lymphatic drainage for lower limb swelling and pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has not been reported. The existing studies mainly concentrate on the instant effect of kinesio taping, and there is a lack of clinical research on its long-term effectiveness.OBJECTIVE: To observe the curative efficacy of kinesio taping combined with manual lymphatic drainage for lower limb swelling and pain after TKA.METHODS: Sixty patients with lower limb swelling following TKA were randomly divided into control and experimental groups (n=30 per group), followed by treated with kinesio taping, and kinesio taping combined with manual lymphatic drainage, respectively. The swelling degree, visual analogue scale scores and curative efficacy at baseline and 10 days after treatment were compared between two groups.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The swelling degree and visual analogue scale scores were significantly decreased in the two groups after treatment (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, all indicators were significantly improved in the experimental group (P < 0.05). (2) The total effective rate was 80% in the control group and 100% in the experimental group, and the obvious effective rate was 37% in the control group and 63% in the experimental group,both showing significant differences (P < 0.05). (3) These results suggest that the combination of kinesio taping and manual lymphatic drainage can markedly alleviate the low limb swelling and pain after TKA compared with single kinesio taping.