Treatment of myofascial pain in the shoulder with Kinesio taping. A case report.

Kinesio Taping was a technique developed by Dr. Kenzo Kase in the 70s. The adhesive pliable material, directly applied to the skin, differs from classical tape in its physical characteristics. Furthermore, its clinical application departs from the usual restriction of mobility. This technique claims four effects: to normalize muscular function, to increase lymphatic and vascular flow, to diminish pain and aid in the correction of possible articular malalignments (Kase et al., 1996). This taping technique is frequently applied for pathologies in the musculoskeletal system, especially in the field of sports injuries (Yasukawa et al., 2006; Zajt-Kwiatkowska et al., 2007). Myofascial pain has been studied by several authors (Simons, 1996; Hong and Simons, 1998; Travell and Simons, 1999; Niddam et al., 2007) and among the manual therapy techniques applied are massage (Gam et al., 1998; Travell and Simons, 1999), compression techniques (Hanten et al., 2000), stretching (Travell and Simons, 1999; Hanten et al., 2000), injection of different substances (De Andrés et al., 2003; Kamanli et al., 2005) and dry needling (Edwards and Knowles, 2003). Notwithstanding the above, there is an absence of references documenting the application of Kinesio Taping in the treatment of pain arising from myofascial trigger points (MTPs). This case report documents the results achieved with Kinesio Taping as the exclusive therapeutic procedure for the treatment of a patient with shoulder pain of myofascial origin.