The patient was a deployed 34-year-old female soldier with a chief complaint of bilateral anterior shin pain for the past 8 weeks. Due to concern for a stress fracture, radiographic views of the bilateral tibia and fibula were completed, which revealed cortical thickening through the anterior midtibial regions bilaterally, consistent with stress reactive changes. Furthermore, a transverse lucency through the anterior cortex of the anterior right midtibial region was noted, which was consistent with a stress fracture. The patient was immediately placed in a short leg cast and was given strict non–weight-bearing instructions for gait. She was subsequently evacuated to her home duty station for consultation with an orthopaedic surgeon to determine if surgical intervention was warranted. This report illustrates the importance of identifying stress fractures considered to be high risk.

J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2010;40(12):833. doi:10.2519/jospt.2010.0420

KEY WORDS: midtibial, radiography

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, double-blinded, clinical trial using a repeated-measures design. OBJECTIVES: To determine the short-term clinical efficacy of Kinesio Tape (KT) when applied to college students with shoulder pain, as compared to a sham tape application. BACKGROUND: Tape is commonly used as an adjunct for treatment and prevention of musculoskeletal injuries. A majority of tape applications that are reported in the literature involve nonstretch tape. The KT method has gained significant popularity in recent years, but there is a paucity of evidence on its use. METHODS AND MEASURES: Forty-two subjects clinically diagnosed with rotator cuff tendonitis/impingement were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: therapeutic KT group or sham KT group. Subjects wore the tape for 2 consecutive 3-day intervals. Self-reported pain and disability and pain-free active ranges of motion (ROM) were measured at multiple intervals to assess for differences between groups. RESULTS: The therapeutic KT group showed immediate improvement in pain-free shoulder abduction (mean ± SD increase, 16.9° ± 23.2°; P = .005) after tape application. No other differences between groups regarding ROM, pain, or disability scores at any time interval were found. CONCLUSION: KT may be of some assistance to clinicians in improving pain-free active ROM immediately after tape application for patients with shoulder pain. Utilization of KT for decreasing pain intensity or disability for young patients with suspected shoulder tendonitis/impingement is not supported.  LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapy, level 1b-.

J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2008;38(7):389-395, published online 29 May 2008. doi:10.2519/jospt.2008.2791

KEY WORDS:  impingement, rehabilitation, taping