NCT04711447

Effect of Inhibitory Kinesio-tape of the Upper Trapezius on Lower Trapezius Muscle Excitation

Completed NA Results posted Last updated 27 January 2025

What this trial tests

NA trial testing kinesio-tape in Scapular Dyskinesis in 25 participants. Completed in 1 July 2020.

Timeline

1 January 2020

Primary endpoint
1 July 2020

1 July 2020

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Trisha Scribbans
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	crossover
Masking	triple
Primary purpose	basic science
Enrollment	25
Start date	1 January 2020
Primary completion	1 July 2020
Estimated completion	1 July 2020
Sites	1 location across Canada

Drugs / interventions tested

• kinesio-tape

Conditions studied

• Scapular Dyskinesis — all drugs for Scapular Dyskinesis →

Sponsor

Trisha Scribbans

Who can join

Adults 18 to 60, any sex, with Scapular Dyskinesis. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Results — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Per-arm endpoint measurements with 95% confidence intervals where reported. Source: trial results section.

Whole-muscle Activation Primary · Measured during 2nd-9th repetitions of the arm elevation task. Each repetition lasted approximately 1.5 seconds, thus the timeframe was approximately 12 seconds.

RMS measured using high-density EMG electrode grids

Group	Value	95% CI
No-tape, no Load	.046	± .019
Sham KT, No-load	.043	± .015
Kinesio Tape, No-load	.040	± .018
No-tape, With Load	.061	± .021
Sham KT, With Load	.065	± .020
Kinesio Tape, With Load	.064	± .026

Spatial Distribution of Muscle Activation Secondary · Measured during 2nd-9th repetitions of the arm elevation task. Each repetition lasted approximately 1.5 seconds, thus the timeframe was approximately 12 seconds.

shifts in excitation measured using high-density EMG electrode grids

Group	Value	95% CI
Row 1 Baseline	.111	± .05
Row 1 Sham	.114	± .05
Row 1 KT	.111	± .06
Row 2 Baseline	.105	± .04
Row 2 Sham	.111	± .04
Row 2 KT	.109	± .047
Row 3 Baseline	.088	± .03
Row 3 Sham	.093	± .03
Row 3 kt	.093	± .03
Row 4 Baseline	.066	± .02
Row 4 Sham	.07	± .02
Row 4 kt	.07	± .03

Sponsor's own description

Shoulder pain increases excitation (or activity) of the upper trapezius (UT) and reduces excitation in lower trapezius (LT). Despite inconclusive evidence, kinesio-tape (KT) is often used to modify muscular excitation within the UT and/or LT to help correct alterations in scapular position and motion associated with shoulder pain/injury. The objectives of the current study were to determine if: 1) inhibitory KT to the UT acutely increases muscle excitation (whole-muscle and spatial distribution) within the LT in healthy individuals; and 2) if loading the limb alters the magnitude of change in muscle excitation of the LT. We hypothesize that: 1) inhibitory KT application to the UT will immediately increase whole-muscle LT excitation, and result in an inferior shift in the distribution of excitation within the LT compared to no tape and sham-KT tape conditions; and 2) the magnitude of immediate increase in LT excitation with KT would be greater in the loaded condition. A repeated-measures, crossover design was used to determine the impact of KT applied to UT and load on muscle excitation of the LT. Participants were asked to perform a repeated arm elevation task during three different taping conditions: no KT, experimental KT and sham KT. Each taping condition performed the repeated arm elevation task during two loading conditions: no load and loaded with 2.3 kilograms. All six conditions were tested during one visit with the no load condition preceding the loaded condition for each taping condition. A baseline trial (no KT; N-KT) was performed first, followed by both an experimental-KT (E-KT) and sham-KT (S-KT) condition. The order of the E-KT and S-KT conditions were randomized and the order was counterbalanced. Testing for each tape condition lasted approximately 10-minutes for a total of 45-minutes per participant including screening, EMG set-up and clean-up. KT was applied to the UT and muscle excitation (EMG amplitude) was measured in the LT using one single 32-grid high-density surface electromyography (HD-sEMG) electrode during a repeated arm elevation task.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial. Completed trials usually publish results within 12-18 months.