ABSTRACT

Purpose:

The purpose of this study is to find out whether postural kinesio taping (KT) contributes to decreasing kyphosis angle in adolescents who have increased thoracic kyphosis. Within this context, our purpose was to contribute to treatment of thoracic kyphosis as an additional method.

Material and Method:

50 adolescents between 10 and 18 years of age who referred to Orthopedics and Traumatology Polyclinic and who were diagnosed with thoracic kyphosis after required examinations participated in the study voluntarily. The patients were randomly grouped in two. One of the groups was exercise group (Ex), while the other was both exercise and taping (Ex-KT) group. At the beginning of the study, thoracic kyphosis values of all the patients in the study were measured by an orthopedist based on Cobb method. The groups consisted of 25 patients. Consent was taken from all participants with pediatric informed consent form. The same exercises were given to both groups. The patients were asked to make two types of exercises daily. The first exercise was 20 body hyperextensions in prone position. The second exercise was a rhythmic swimming movement done as if diving into the water and coming out of the water. This swimming movement would be done 5 minutes each day. The exercises were followed daily under the supervision of a physiotherapist. Only these exercises were given to Ex group. After Ex-KT group made the exercises, KT was applied on their upper backs. KT application was renewed each week. The participants were referred to the orthopedist again for measurement following a 6-week program. Final measurement results the orthopedist conducted with Cobb method were compared with the first measurement results.

Results:

No statistically significant difference was found between the average pretreatment and post-treatment kyphosis degrees of males and females in the Ex group (p> 0,05). Statistically significant difference was found between the average pre-treatment and post-treatment kyphosis degrees of males and females in the Ex-KT group (p<0,05).

Conclusion:

In the present study, it was found that KT technique had positive results in terms of decreasing increased thoracic kyphosis. We are of the opinion that it will be useful to apply KT technique with other treatment protocols in the treatment of increased thoracic kyphosis. We believe that the results of this study will be a reference for future studies. We are of the opinion that studies with longer periods of time should be conducted to have a clear idea about the effects of KT on thoracic kyphosis.