Effects of elastic kinesiology taping on shoulder proprioception: a systematic review

Abstract

Background: Shoulder injuries are associated with proprioceptive deficits. Elastic kinesiology tape (KT) is used for treating musculoskeletal disorders, including shoulder injuries, as it arguably improves proprioception.

Objective: To synthesize the evidence on the effects of elastic KT on proprioception in healthy and pathological shoulders.

Methods: Four databases (PubMed, WoS, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus) were searched for studies that investigated the effects of elastic KT on shoulder proprioception. Outcome measures were active joint position sense (AJPS), passive joint position sense (PJPS), kinesthesia, sense of force (SoF), and sense of velocity (SoV). Risk of bias (RoB) was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration RoB tool for randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and the ROBINS-1 for non-RCTs, while the certainty of evidence was determined using GRADE.

Results: Eight studies (5 RCTs, 3 non-RCTs) were included, yielding 187 shoulders (102 healthy and 85 pathological shoulders). RoB ranged from low (2 studies), moderate (5 studies), to high (1 study). Elastic KT has a mixed effect on AJPS of healthy shoulders (n=79) (low certainty). Elastic KT improves AJPS (subacromial pain syndrome and rotator cuff tendinopathy, n=52) and PJPS (chronic hemiparetic shoulders, n=13) among pathological shoulders (very low certainty). Elastic KT has no effect on kinesthesia among individuals with subacromial pain syndrome (n=30) (very low certainty).

Conclusion: There is very low to low certainty of evidence that elastic KT enhances shoulder AJPS and PJPS. The aggregate of evidence is currently so low that any recommendation on the effectiveness of elastic KT on shoulder proprioception remains speculative.

Keywords: Elastic taping; Joint position sense; Kinesthesia; Proprioception; Shoulder; Upper limbs.