Effects of multidirectional elastic tape on pain and function in individuals with lateral elbow tendinopathy: A randomised crossover trial

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of multidirectional elastic tape on pain and function in individuals with lateral elbow tendinopathy. STUDY DESIGN: Randomised crossover trial. SETTING: Biomechanics laboratory. SUBJECTS: 27 participants (11 females, mean (SD) age: 48.6 (11.9) years) with clinically diagnosed lateral elbow tendinopathy of at least six weeks’ duration. INTERVENTIONS: Tensioned multidirectional elastic tape applied over the wrist, compared to control tape (untensioned), and no tape conditions. MAIN MEASURES: Pain-free grip strength and pressure pain threshold were recorded at three timepoints for each condition: baseline, post-application, and following an exercise circuit. Change scores were calculated as the post-application or post-exercise value minus baseline. Repeated-measure analyses of variance were used to examine differences between conditions. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in pain-free grip strength between conditions (flexed position: F(2,52) = 0.02, p = 0.98; extended position: F(2,52) = 2.26, p = 0.12) or across timepoints (post-application vs post-exercise) (flexed position: F(1,26) = 0.94, p = 0.34; extended position: F(1,26) = 0.79, p = 0.38). Seven participants (26%) increased pain-free grip strength above the minimal detectable change following application of multidirectional elastic tape. There were no statistically significant differences in pressure pain threshold between conditions (affected lateral epicondyle: F(1.51,39.17) = 0.54, p = 0.54) or across timepoints (affected lateral epicondyle: F(1,26) = 0.94, p = 0.34). CONCLUSION: Tensioned multidirectional elastic tape may not immediately improve pain-free grip strength or pressure pain threshold in our lateral elbow tendinopathy population; however, individual variation may exist.