Efficacy of kinesio taping on isokinetic quadriceps torque in knee osteoarthritis: a double blinded randomized controlled study

***Rationale:***The knee jointis commonly affected in osteoarthritis where the strength of the quadricepsmuscle and its torque producing capability is frequently found to becompromised. Recently, the use of kinesio taping as an intervention inmusculoskeletal disorders has become popular amongst physiotherapists. However,its ability to improve the isokinetic knee performance has conflicting resultsin literature with only few studies showing an increase in the quadricepstorque. This warrants further investigation in knee osteoarthritis, forming thebasis for this study. Objective: To compare the isokineticquadriceps torque, standardized stair-climbing task and pain between subjectsin experimental and control group before and after kinesio tape application. Materialsand method: A double blind pre-test post-test control group design willbe followed where 40 subjects will be randomly allocated to either theexperimental or control group. Subjectswill be recruited from the out-patient departments of orthopaedics andphysiotherapy-MS Ramaiah Hospitals using random sampling. The dependentvariables for this study are peakquadriceps torque (measured using an isokinetic dynamometer), standardizedstair-climbing task (where the time taken to ascend and descend 5 stairs “asquickly and as safely†as possible would be noted) and pain (measured using thevisual analogue scale). A pre test measurement of the variables will be carriedout by a blinded assessor following which the kinesio tape application will bedone by the principal investigator. The blinded assessor will then carry outthe post test measurement of the same variables. Statistical method: Descriptivestatistics will be used to compare the baseline characteristics of theexperimental and the control group (utilizing mean and standard deviation). Student t test (unpaired) will be usedto compare the peak quadriceps torque values and the time taken in thestandardized stair climbing task between the experimental and control group. TheStudent t test (paired) will be used to analyze the within group variations forthe same. Mann-whitney U test will be used to compare the pain scores of VASbetween the experimental and control group with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test usedto compare the within group variations.