Abstract
Objectives:
Rib fractures, which are among the most common injuries in blunt thoracic trauma, are commonly encountered in emergency departments. Pain management of rib fractures is a challenge for physicians. Oral analgesics and invasive modalities like intercostal nerve block or operative repair still have some controversies and present limited pain relief. Kinesiotape (KT) is a drug-free elastic therapeutic tape used for treating various musculoskeletal injuries especially in sports medicine. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of kinesiotaping on several parameters of patients with rib fracture.
Methods:
This study was conducted in accordance with the Synthesis without meta-analysis (SWiM) guideline. Several studies were selected from Medline, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Central Libraries. Seven independent reviewers assessed the quality of the included studies using critical appraisal tool.
Results:
One NRCT, two cohort studies, and four case reports were analyzed in this study. It discovered that the use of kinesiotape was effective in terms of pain reduction in rib fractures.
Conclusion:
Kinesiotaping can be used in pain management of isolated rib fractures. Additional research need to investigate the role of taping interventions for treating various skeletal injuries.