Short-term effectiveness of kinesio taping as therapeutic tool in conservative treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Alberto Tomás-Escolar; Javier Merino-Andrés; Alberto Sánchez-Sierra; Javier Aceituno-Gómez; Juan José Fernández-Pérez

doi:10.1002/pri.2026

Short-term effectiveness of kinesio taping as therapeutic tool in conservative treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Physiother Res Int. 2023 Jun 2:e2026. doi: 10.1002/pri.2026. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Alberto Tomás-Escolar¹, Javier Merino-Andrés^{2

3}, Alberto Sánchez-Sierra^{2

3

4

5

6}, Javier Aceituno-Gómez³, Juan José Fernández-Pérez³

Affiliations

¹ HM IMI Toledo Polyclinic, Toledo, Spain.
² Faculty of Physiotherapy and Nursing, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, Spain.
³ Toledo Physiotherapy Research Group (GIFTO), Department of Nursing, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, Castilla-La Mancha University, Toledo, Spain.
⁴ Department of Physiotherapy, Camilo José Cela University, Madrid, Spain.
⁵ Department of Physiotherapy, European University, Madrid, Spain.
⁶ Research Group in Therapeutic Exercise and Functional Rehabilitation. Department of Physiotherapy, European University, Madrid, Spain.

PMID: 37269121
DOI: 10.1002/pri.2026

Abstract

Background and purpose: Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common peripheral neuropathy of the upper extremities and kinesio taping is one of the tools used as a complementary tool within the conventional treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. To investigate the short-term effects of kinesio taping on pain, functionality, strength, and nerve conduction in subjects suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome.

Methods: Systematic review with meta-analysis. Seven electronic databases (MEDLINE-Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, PEDro, CINAHL, and SPORTDiscus) were searched for full-text articles published from inception to March 1^st , 2023. Studies had to meet the following inclusion criteria: randomised clinical trials, including patients of legal age with mild, moderate, or severe symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome without associated pathologies, and treating the studied body area with kinesio taping, whether or not in combination with other therapies. The DerSimonian and Laird method was employed using random effects models to calculate the pooled estimate of the effect size with confidence intervals of 95%. The risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane Collaboration's tool and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach was used to judge the certainty of the evidence for all outcomes.

Results: Thirteen studies were included, comprising 665 participants with carpal tunnel syndrome. This meta-analysis revealed a strong effect of kinesio taping on distal sensory latency and a weak effect on functionality and pain, while no significantly superior effects were found on the symptom severity, strength, or neurophysiological outcomes (distal motor latency and sensory conduction velocity) compared to other physical therapy techniques or untreated control group in the short term, with moderate-certainty evidence.

Discussion: Kinesio taping is a complementary tool to the conventional treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome that improves functionality, pain, and distal sensory latency in the short term.

Keywords: carpal tunnel syndrome; functional recovery; kinesio taping; meta-analysis; systematic review.

Publication types

Review