Kinesio Taping and Hypotonia

Case Study Full Name: Does Kinesio Taping of the Abdominal Muscles Improve the Supine-to-sit Transition in Children with Hypotonia? By: Jaime P. Cepeda, SPT and Aliza Fishweicher, SPT, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Michael Gleeson, PT, DPT, Susan Greenwood, PT, DPT, and Carol Motyka-Miller, MA, PT   Summary: The most common characteristics of children with hypotonia are decreased strength, hypermobile joints and increased flexibility. These characteristics can greatly impact basic gross motor functions such as the transitional movement of supine-to-sit. For this reason, supine-to-sit was used as an outcome measure in this study. The purpose of this study was to determine if applying Kinesio Tape to the abdominal muscles would affect the performance of the supine-to-sit transition in children with hypotonia.   Conclusion: In this study, the use of Kinesio Tape on the abdominal muscles proved to be an effective therapeutic intervention for improving the transition of supine-sit in children with hypotonia. Children presented with favorable findings including: less compensatory movements during the transition, increased focus/attention and decreased protruding abdomen. Care should be taken when applying this information to other populations in different settings. Further research in this area is suggested to further confirm these findings regarding the use of Kinesio Tape on pediatrics with hypotonia.