Effects of Combination Taping Technique on Disability, Functional Capacity, and Knee Isokinetic Torque in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Blinded Randomized Controlled Study

Background: Treatments that combine both elastic and rigid taping in knee osteoarthritis have not yet been investigated in the literature. Thus, the purpose of the present study is to investigate how the combination taping technique affects functional status, disability, and quadricep isokinetic torque in cases of knee osteoarthritis. Patient Methods: A total of fifty-four patients were assigned to the experimental group or control group. Conventional physical therapy was provided to both groups, in addition, participants in the experimental group also received combination taping. Disability, functional status, and isokinetic quadriceps torque were assessed at baseline, six weeks (post-intervention), and twelve weeks (follow-up). Results: MANOVA showed that post-intervention measurements were significantly better than baseline measurements of both groups, except for isokinetic quadriceps torque, which showed a nonsignificant difference in the control group. The control group's follow-up measurements revealed nonsignificant differences from those taken after the intervention, whereas the experimental group's differences were significant excluding isokinetic quadriceps torque. Measurements taken at post-intervention and follow-up revealed that the experimental group had significantly improved compared to the control groups. Conclusions: Combination taping was found to be more beneficial when used in addition to conventional physical therapy than when used alone in knee OA.