Efficacy of combined Kinesio-taping with chest physiotherapy program on pain, pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength and quality of life after mastectomy: a randomized controlled trial

TL;DR

Adding Kinesio-taping to chest physiotherapy after mastectomy reduces pain and improves lung function and quality of life more than physiotherapy alone.

Contribution

This study demonstrates the added benefits of Kinesio-taping combined with chest physiotherapy for post-mastectomy recovery.

Findings

The KT group showed significantly lower pain scores compared to the control group after 4 weeks.

KT improved pulmonary function metrics like FVC and FEV1 more than traditional physiotherapy.

Respiratory muscle strength and quality of life were also significantly better in the KT group.

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the effects of incorporating Kinesio-taping (KT) into a chest physical therapy program on alleviating pain and enhancing pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength, and quality of life following mastectomy.

This was a prospective, randomized controlled trial.

Physiotherapy outpatient clinic.

Sixty participants aged 30–50 years who had undergone modified radical mastectomy were randomly allocated to either the Kinesio-taping or traditional physical therapy exercise group.

The Kinesio-taping group received both Kinesio-taping and traditional chest physiotherapy. The control group received only the traditional chest physiotherapy program. The interventions were administered over a 4-week period.

The primary outcome measure was pain, which was evaluated using a visual analogue scale (VAS). Secondary outcomes included pulmonary function, specifically forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), assessed via spirometry; respiratory muscle strength, determined by measuring maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) and maximal expiratory pressure (MEP) using a portable pressure device; and quality of life, assessed using the Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire. All outcomes were measured at baseline and 4 weeks after the intervention.

The evaluated parameters exhibited significant alterations between the pre- and post-intervention after a duration of 4 weeks in both groups. The results indicated a significant changes (p < 0.001) in post-intervention measures compared to pre-intervention measures in both groups. No significant differences were observed between the groups before the intervention. The KT group demonstrated superior postintervention outcomes. Specifically, the KT group showed a significant reduction in VAS scores post-intervention than the control group (3.97 ± 1.65 vs. 6.50 ± 1.57, p < 0.001). Post-intervention, the KT group exhibited significantly higher values (p < 0.001) of FVC, FEV1, and FEV1/FVC (3.52 ± 0.64 L, 2.95 ± 0.56 L, and 85.09 ± 12.07%) compared to the control group (2.38 ± 0.56 L, 1.74 ± 0.54 L, and 72.39 ± 10.82%), respectively. Additionally, post-intervention MIP and MEP values were significantly higher (p < 0.001) in the KT group.

Integrating Kinesio-taping into a standard chest physiotherapy program significantly reduced pain and enhanced pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength, and quality of life in post-mastectomy patients compared to the application of traditional chest physiotherapy alone.

ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT06701591.

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