Effects of exercise and Kinesio taping on abdominal recovery in women with cesarean section: a pilot randomized controlled trial.
OBJECTIVE
Abdominal muscle strength decreases and fat ratio in the waist region increases following cesarean section. Kinesio taping (KT) is an easily applicable method and stimulates muscle activation. The aim of this pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to investigate the effects of KT combined with exercise in women with cesarean section on abdominal recovery compared to the exercise alone.


METHODS
Twenty-four women in between the fourth and sixth postnatal months who had cesarean section were randomly assigned to KT + exercise (n = 12) group or exercise group (n = 12). KT was applied twice a week for 4 weeks on rectus abdominis, oblique abdominal muscles and cesarean incision. All women were instructed to carry out posterior pelvic tilt, core stabilization and abdominal correction exercises. Outcome measures were evaluated with the manual muscle test, sit-up test, abdominal endurance test, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), circumference measurements and Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ). Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon tests were used to analyze data. p < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.


RESULTS
The improvement observed in the KT + exercise group was significantly greater compared to the exercise group in terms of the strength of the rectus abdominis muscle, sit-up test, VAS, measurements of the waist circumference and RMDQ (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
It appears that the addition of KT to abdominal exercises in the postnatal physiotherapy program provides greater benefit for the abdominal recovery in women with cesarean section. Further studies with larger sample sizes and long-term follow-up are needed to verify these results.
Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hacettepe University, 06100, Samanpazari, Ankara, Turkey.
Ceren
C
Gürşen
School of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Mustafa Kemal University, 31001, Antakya, Hatay, Turkey.
Deniz
D
İnanoğlu
Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hacettepe University, 06100, Samanpazari, Ankara, Turkey.
Serap
S
Kaya
Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hacettepe University, 06100, Samanpazari, Ankara, Turkey. takbayrak@yahoo.com.
Türkan
T
Akbayrak
Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hacettepe University, 06100, Samanpazari, Ankara, Turkey.
Gül
G
Baltacı
D000005:Abdomen; D000009:Abdominal Muscles; D000328:Adult; D055052:Athletic Tape; D002585:Cesarean Section; D015444:Exercise; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D011247:Pregnancy; D017568:Rectus Abdominis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
Abdominal muscles; Cesarean section; Exercise; Pregnancy; Taping; Women’s health