Kinesiotaping in Physiotherapy after Abdominal Surgery

Case Study Full Name: Kinesiotaping in Physiotherapy after Abdominal Surgery By: Szczegielniak J, Krajczy M, Bogacz K, Łuniewski J, Śliwiński Z   Background: The pain which occurs after surgical operations is connected with malfunction or failure of the alimentary canal. This malfunction may be the cause of flatulence and oedema of the stomach cover, which leads to pain. The pain may also accompany the process of postoperative wound healing, with additional possible implications such as oedema and exudation. The other possible reason for post surgical pain is postoperative immobilization, when pain is caused by hypokinesis. Physiotherapy in patients after surgeries should lead to the fastest possible mobilization of the patient, and the time of recovery and return to normal physical activity depends on the extent of surgical operation and patient's condition. The observation of the possibilities offered by kinesio taping suggests its usefulness for treatment of pain related to surgeries, accelerating postoperative wound healing processes. Kinesio taping applications, individually suited to patients' needs, support curing processes and provide new quality of physiotherapy.   Material and methods: In order to prove efficiency of Kinesio Taping applications in therapy, research was carried out on a group of 22 patients (8 male, 14 female) treated in Surgery Unit of the Municipal Hospital in Nysa in January and February 2007. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: the test group (4 males, 7 females), in which kinesio taping applications were employed, and the control group (4 males, 7 females) in which standard methods of treatment were used. Circumference of the abdomen was measured in lying position. Linear regression model was used for the results analysis.   Results and Conclusions: The research proved that Kinesio Taping method is highly effective in treating patients after abdominal surgery. The daily decrease of 2.5 percentage points in the abdomen circumference helped to relieve pain and reduce doses of painkillers. Within the control group, after the initial increase in the abdomen circumference measurement values, they finally decreased by 0.5 percentage points on average.