Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) most frequently affects smaller joints in the hands and feet. Among the most common deformations resulting from the progression of the disease are ulnar deviation, Boutonniere deformity, swan neck deformity, contractures and limited range of movement in the hand and wrist joints, muscular atrophy of long and short muscles. The topic of this article is the influence of using Kinesiology Taping method on the functioning of the hand of the patient suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.
The research involved 20 patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (16 women, 4 men), treated in the Hospital in Kup. Average age of patients was 62.2. Research subjects, apart from pharmacological treatment in the hospital ward, received standard physiotherapy. In case of 10 patients additional K-Active Tape applications were used to correct ulnar positioning of the hand and improve hand functioning. Prior to physiotherapy, all patients were given a hand functioning test and a dynamometer measurement was made. The tests were repeated after the 2-week rehabilitation process has been completed. The results were subjected to statistical analysis with the use of the Wilcoxon test and the U Mann-Whitney test. The assessment of the correlation between analysed parameters was made with the use of linear correlation test.
In the group where Kinesiology Tape applications were used, hand muscle strength increased significantly (p<0.05) in comparison with the group treated with standard physiotherapy. Hand muscle strength increase correlated with the tempo of carrying out the hand functioning test (r>0.8).
Results suggest Kinesiology Taping method useful for physiotherapy of rheumatoid hand.