Adri T. Apeldoorn, Steven J. Kamper, Joeri Kalter, Dirk L. Knol, Maurits W. van Tulder, Raymond W. Ostelo
Rehabilitation department, Noordwest Ziekenhuisgroep, NL-1815 JD Alkmaar, The Netherlands. E-mail: a.t.apeldoorn@nwz.nl
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-2214

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of individualized physiotherapy in combination with rigid taping compared with individualized physiotherapy alone in patients with subacromial pain syndrome.
Design: A prospective randomized trial with concealed allocation.
Patients: A total of 140 patients between 18 and 65 years of age from primary physiotherapy settings.
Methods: The intervention group received individualized physiotherapy and shoulder taping. The control group received individualized physiotherapy only.
Primary outcomes were: pain intensit (numerical rating scale) and functioning (Simple Shoulder Test).
Secondary outcomes were: global perceived effect and patient-specific complaints. Data were collected at baseline, and at 4, 12 and 26 weeks’ follow-up.
Results: During the 6-month follow-up period multilevel analysis showed a significant difference between groups favouring the control group on pain intensity (p = 0. 02), but not on functioning. Regarding secondary outcomes, a significant difference between groups was found favouring the intervention group for global perceived effect (p = 0. 02), but not for patient-specific complaints.
Conclusion: Rigid shoulder taping, as used in this study, cannot be recommended for improving physiotherapy outcomes in people with subacromial pain syndrome.

Physiotherapy with taping was not more successful than physiotherapy alone in patients with shoulder pain
Large numbers of people suffer from shoulder pain at some stage during their life. This study investigated whether using tape as part of treatment made a difference when added to individualized physiotherapy for people with shoulder pain. The results were in some way mixed. After 6 months, patients in the physiotherapy plus taping group scored a bit worse on shoulder pain, but a bit better on their overall impression of how their shoulder was feeling, compared to the patients in the physiotherapy alone group. We concluded that the tape did not bring additional value to regular physiotherapy. Therefore, the tape technique as used in this study cannot be recommended in patients with shoulder pain.