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Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment and Adjunctive Kinesiotaping: A
Retrospective Utilization Study
Calka, L, D.O.
University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, Biddeford, ME
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to retrospectively assess the utilization of
kinesiotape as an adjunctive treatment with osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT)
for various musculoskeletal problems in an Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM)
Specialty clinic. To improve pain, mobility and quality of life OMM specialists often use
adjunctive treatments with manipulation such as medication, joint and soft tissue
injections, physical therapy, heel lifts, and others. Kinesiotape is another adjunctive
therapy that is a safe, non-invasive treatment for musculoskeletal pain, joint pain and
lymphatic/vascular congestion. Kinesiotape works by aligning fascial tissues and lifting
skin. This action improves lymphatic and vascular circulation, and stimulates
mechanoreceptors and proprioceptors to facilitate weak or injured muscles as well as to
reduce muscle spasm and pain while providing psychological and structural support.
OMM specialists use kinesiotape in practice; however there have been few studies
analyzing the frequency of its use. The aim of this research was to identify practice
patterns of physicians using kinesiotape, the frequency of its use, and to better
understand how kinesiotape and osteopathic manipulative medicine can be used
together in treating various conditions. Data collected includes the number of providers
using kinesiotape in the Specialty clinic, the number of patients treated with the tape,
and the age and gender of each patient. Additional information obtained included the
type of diagnoses made in conjunction with kinesiotaping, and identified the somatic
dysfunction associated with the primary diagnosis.
Methods: This retrospective chart review subject population consisted of a cohort of
non-pregnant adult patients’ ages 18 years or older who were evaluated and treated by
5 physicians in an Osteopathic Specialty clinic with osteopathic manipulation and
kinesiotape over the period of January 1, 2012 to October 31, 2012. After UNECOM
IRB approval, medical charts were collected from the electronic medical record via billing
and coding record queries for strapping/taping procedures. Personal identifiers were
removed from all progress notes and then reviewed by the researcher. Patient gender,
age, body region taped, diagnosis/condition, and somatic dysfunction diagnosis by body
region were recorded into an Excel spreadsheet. Simple tabulations of data were
performed using the Excel program.
Results: This utilization study revealed that women were taped more often than men.
The age ranges of patients most frequently taped were 40-49 and 70-79 years old. The
areas most frequently treated with OMT and adjunctive kinesiotape were the knee and
shoulder. The most common diagnoses treated were osteoarthritis of the knee/knee
pain, and rotator cuff syndrome/shoulder pain. Somatic dysfunction regions associated
with areas taped were variable from patient to patient.
Conclusion: These data illustrates that adjunctive kinesiotaping is being used with OMT
for various conditions, and with various patients age ranges and genders. Kinesiotaping
may be an effective non-invasive complement to OMT. This retrospective utilization
study warrants further research. Possible future studies include multi-center
retrospective utilization reviews and also prospective studies analyzing the effectiveness
of adjunctive kinesiotaping with OMT for treating specific diagnoses or conditions.