Effects of multidirectional elastic tape on pain and function in individuals with lateral elbow tendinopathy: A randomised crossover trial

Objective To investigate the effects of multidirectional elastic tape on pain and function in individuals with lateral elbow tendinopathy. Study Design Randomised crossover trial. Setting Biomechanics laboratory. Subjects 27 participants (11 females, mean (SD) age: 48.6 (11.9) years) with clinically diagnosed lateral elbow tendinopathy of at least six weeks' duration. Interventions Tensioned multidirectional elastic tape applied over the wrist, compared to control tape (untensioned), and no tape conditions. Main measures Pain-free grip strength and pressure pain threshold were recorded at three timepoints for each condition: baseline, post-application, and following an exercise circuit. Change scores were calculated as the post-application or post-exercise value minus baseline. Repeated-measure analyses of variance were used to examine differences between conditions. Results There were no statistically significant differences in pain-free grip strength between conditions (flexed position: F-2,F-52 = 0.02, p = 0.98; extended position: F-2,F-52 = 2.26, p = 0.12) or across timepoints (post-application vs post-exercise) (flexed position: F-1,F-26 = 0.94, p = 0.34; extended position: F-1,F-26 = 0.79, p = 0.38). Seven participants (26%) increased pain-free grip strength above the minimal detectable change following application of multidirectional elastic tape. There were no statistically significant differences in pressure pain threshold between conditions (affected lateral epicondyle: F-1.51,F-39.17 = 0.54, p = 0.54) or across timepoints (affected lateral epicondyle: F-1,F-26 = 0.94, p = 0.34). Conclusion Tensioned multidirectional elastic tape may not immediately improve pain-free grip strength or pressure pain threshold in our lateral elbow tendinopathy population; however, individual variation may exist.