Effects of Kinesio Taping in Patients With Somatosensory Tinnitus
Condition: Tinnitus, Subjective
MeSH terms: Tinnitus
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      There is no specific treatment that can cure somatosensory tinnitus and usually conservative
      physical therapy modalities are used in the literature. The aim of the study is to
      investigate the effect of kinesio taping applied to sternocleidomastoid, upper trapezium and
      levator scapulae muscles on the somatosensory tinnitus associated with neck complaints.
    

Detailed description: 
      The study was designed as a prospective, randomized controlled and double blind trial.

      Patients complaining of tinnitus were firstly subjected to otologic and audiologic evaluation
      by an otolaryngologist. Tinnitus characteristics, such as severity (Tinnitus handicap Index,
      tinnitus Visual Analog Scale- tinnitus VAS) , type (pulsatile/non-pulsatile), localization
      (unilateral/ bilateral) and the frequency (number of days with symptoms) were recorded.
      Patients were excluded if they had objective tinnitus, subjective tinnitus with hearing loss
      or Meniere's disease, vertigo, middle ear pathologies, intracranial pathologies, whiplash
      injury, previous cervical spinal surgery, pregnancy, infection, malignancy and if they
      received cervical physical rehabilitation program in the past 3 months.

      Patients who diagnosed with somatosensory tinnitus and concomitant neck complaints
      (cervical-VAS score >2) at least 6 weeks were referred to physical medicine and
      rehabilitation outpatient clinic. Before the treatment, participants' demographics data
      including age, gender, Body-Mass Index (BMI) and cervical pain VAS score were recorded and
      physical examinations (cervical joint range of motion (cervical-ROM), cervical manual muscle
      testing (cervical-MMT) and myofascial trigger points for sternocleidomastoid, upper trapezium
      and levator scapulae muscles) were performed by one investigator.

      Banding application performed for both groups once a week for four weeks. Tinnitus handicap
      index score, tinnitus VAS, ROM of the cervical joint, cervical MMT, cervical pain VAS, Neck
      Disability index score and myofascial trigger points of sternocleidomastoid, upper trapezium,
      levator scapula was evaluated in all subjects by the same investigator.
    

Intervention name(s): Kinesio tape; Shame tape
Intervention type(s): Other; Other
Intervention description(s): The Kinesio taping ( Kinesio Tex Gold, 2in x103.3 ft) was applied to sternocleidomastoid, upper trapezium and levator scapulae muscles by the muscle inhibition technique ( from insertion to origin of a muscle) for experimental group.; For the Shame taping group, a placebo taping method considered to be ineffective ( not from insertion to origin of muscles) with the same material without tension and with the neck in neutral position was used.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double (Participant, Investigator)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: somatosensory tinnitus; neck pain; kinesio taping