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: F2,52 = 0.02, p = 0.98; extended position: F2,52 = 2.26, p = 0.12) or across timepoints (post-application vs post-exercise) (flexed position: F1,26 = 0.94, p = 0.34; extended position: F1,26 = 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: F1.51,39.17 = 0.54, p = 0.54) or across timepoints (affected lateral epicondyle: F1,26 = 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.