Background and Aim: Cerebral palsy is characterized by non-progressive abnormalities in the developing brain that creates a cascade of motor deficits and finally affects functional activities. Limited hand function is a characteristic of the movement disorders in children with cerebral palsy which leads to disability in performing activities of daily living, work and play. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of wrist Kinesio Taping on hand function of children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.

 Materials and Methods : In this randomized clinical trial and single-blind study, 26 children (3-6 years old) with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy were selected by convenient and simple sampling and randomly divided into two intervention and control groups. During the study for 12 days ,control group received only common occupational therapy treatment or Neuro-Developmental Treatment (NDT). Intervention group received both NDT and wrist Kinesio Taping for 24 hours a day on both wrists. Assessment tool was QUEST for evaluating quality of upper extremity skills and Modified Ashworth Scale for assessing spasticity of wrist before and after intervention in both groups. Data were analyzed by independent t-test and Wilcoxon rank sum.

 Results : The results showed significance increase of total QUEST score (P=0.029) and significance difference in domains of dissociated movements (P=0.003) and grasp (P=0.008) in Kinesio Taping group. However, there were no significant differences in weight bearing (P=0.46) and protective extension (P=0.89) domains. The data showed that wrist Kinesio Taping was effective in reducing spasticity of right wrist(P=0.004) but no significant difference for left wrist(P=0.06).

 Conclusion: Wrist Kinesio Taping technique revealed to be effective in increasing quality of upper extremity skills of spastic diplegic cerebral palsy children in domains of dissociated movements and grasp. Moreover, it was concluded that this technique can be effective in reducing spasticity of right hand due to more active use of dominant hand.

Background and Aim: Shoulder injury is one of the most common injuries in overhead sports. Impingement syndrome is most frequent cause of these injures. Scapular has important biomechanical role in normal shoulder function .Muscle imbalance changes normal scapular arthrokinematic and as a result the risk of injury is high. One of the treatment methods which is used in athletes with impingement syndrome is kinesio taping. Goals of this study was to investigate the effects of kinesio taping of trapezius muscles on pain , functional movements of shouhder joint and lateral scapular slide in athletes with impingement syndrome.

Materials and Methods: Fifteen athletes with a mean age of 30.53±3.56 with impingement syndrome participated in this study. Pain with visual analog scale , functional movements and lateral scapular slide test in 3 positions was  assessed . Then kinesio taping was used for trapezius muscles .Repeated evaluation was performed in 3 different periods of : 20 minutes , 72 hours , 6 days  after first session.

Results: Mean of  pain was reduced in 72 hours and 6 days after kinesio taping (p=0.003) .  Ext.rot + abd movement after kinesio taping was improved and the most improvement was 6 days after kinesio taping (p=0.004). Int.rot+add movement after kinesio taping was improved and the most improvement was 6 days after kinesio taping (p=0.001). Lateral scapular slide test in first position and second position improved significantly. In third position test did not change significantly after kinesiotaping.

Conclusion: Kinesio taping of trapezius muscles in athletes with impingement syndrome has effects on pain reduction, improvement of functional movement of shoulder and improvement of scapular kinematic. Therefore kinesio taping can be used as a treatment in athletes with impingement syndrome.

Keywords: Kinesio taping, Trapezius muscles, Impingement syndrome.