Emerging treatments
Kinesiotaping
Kinesiotape is an elastic therapeutic tape used to treat musculoskeletal injury and pain.[81] It is thought that kinesiotaping may help to support the injured structures, decrease nociceptive stimulation, and possibly improve blood flow, but these effects have not been definitively proven. Although this treatment is fairly easy to learn and relatively inexpensive, further research is needed to determine whether it is truly a useful therapy in clavicle fracture management. One small, randomised controlled trial showed that patients presenting to an accident and emergency department with a rib fracture or rib contusion, clavicle fracture, acromioclavicular joint disruption, or proximal humeral fracture had improved pain at 15 minutes and again at 4 days with kinesiotaping plus standard therapy (sling/immobilisation and paracetamol and naproxen if not contraindicated) compared with standard therapy alone. This study did not analyse treatment effect specifically for clavicle fracture only or perform subset analysis for clavicle fracture, but rather assessed treatment effect based on the pooled group of injuries.[81] Another small, randomised trial found that after a mean of 8.5 months, kinesiotaping did not significantly alter mean union time.[82] However, compared with sling alone, kinesiotaping was associated with shorter time for return to work and better Constant and ASES (American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons) scores.[82]
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