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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2018 Jun 11;18(1):180.
doi: 10.1186/s12906-018-2236-3.

Effect of neuromuscular taping on musculoskeletal disorders secondary to the use of aromatase inhibitors in breast cancer survivors: a pragmatic randomised clinical trial

Inmaculada Conejo  1 , Bella Pajares  2 , Emilio Alba  2 , Antonio Ignacio Cuesta-Vargas  3   4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effect of neuromuscular taping on musculoskeletal disorders secondary to the use of aromatase inhibitors in breast cancer survivors: a pragmatic randomised clinical trial

Inmaculada Conejo et al. BMC Complement Altern Med. .

Abstract

Background: Aromatase inhibitors reduce breast cancer recurrence rates in postmenopausal women by about 30% compared with tamoxifen while treatments differ. Unfortunately, nearly half of women taking AIs report AI-associated arthralgia (AIA), leading to therapy abandon in on third of patients, which could lead to cancer recurrence. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Neuromuscular Taping (NMT) in the treatment of AIA in women who have been treated of BC.

Methods: This study included 40 BC survivors receiving endocrine therapy (either AIs or TMX) from Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria (Málaga, Spain) suffered from AIA. Patients were randomized to one of the two groups that made this pilot study: A. Placebo intervention B. Real NMT. Clinical data were collected from medical history, grip strength, algometry measured, questionnaires and VAS scale. There have been three interventions prior to the completion of the study, 5 weeks later. The primary objective of this pilot study was to achieve an improvement of pain by 20% decrease of VAS.

Results: Significant differences in measures of VAS (p = 0.009), global health status/QoL (p = 0.005), fatigue (p = 0.01) and pain (p = 0.04) were observed post intervention with NMT.

Conclusions: An intervention by NMT to MSCM under treatment with AIs improves their subjective sensation of pain. In addition, this taping had an impact on variables related to the quality of life. This pilot study may be the basis for others to support the use of NMT for the treatment of AIAs, thereby improving their well-being and reducing the dropout rate.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02406794 . Registered on 2 April 2015 Retrospectively registered.

Keywords: Aromatase inhibitors; Arthralgia; Breast cancer; Carpal tunnel syndrome; Estrogen deprivation; Hormonal therapy; Kinesio taping; Myalgia; Neuromuscular taping; Pressure pain threshold; Visual analogue scale.

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Conflict of interest statement

Authors’ information

Inmaculada Conejo is Physiotherapist and a PhD student at the University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain.

Bella Pajares MD, PhD and Professor Emilio Alba are a oncologist of Oncology Department at the General University Hospital of Málaga, IBIMA, University of Málaga, Spain.

Antonio I. Cuesta-Vargas is a Professor of Physiotherapy at the University of Málaga, Spain and Adjunct Professor at Queensland University of Technology, Australia.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The Provincial Ethics Committee of Málaga was approved this study. All patients gave their informed written consent for the study.

Consent for publication

Consent to publish was obtained from the patients featured in Fig. 1.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Different applications of NMT; 1, Application for carpal tunnel syndrome. 2, Application for cervical pain. 3, Application for lower back pain. 4, Sham application for carpal tunnel syndrome. 5, Sham application for cervical pain. 6, Sham application for lower back pain
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Participants Flow Diagram
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Means of objective measures from both groups at different times of the study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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