Elastic tape as an add-on strategy to potentiate pulmonary rehabilitation outcomes in nonobese males with moderate-to-very severe COPD: A randomised clinical trial.

TL;DR

Elastic tape as an adjunctive to pulmonary rehabilitation in moderate-to-very severe COPD males improved endurance shuttle walk time (+329s, exceeding MCID), respiratory symptoms, and depression/anxiety scores beyond sham controls, with moderate-to-large effect sizes for exercise capacity and psychological outcomes.

Key findings

• Elastic tape added to PR significantly improved endurance exercise capacity (ESWT +329s) with effect size d=0.89, exceeding the minimal clinically important difference
• Greater CAT improvements and higher MCID achievement in ET group (48% vs 29%, p=0.02); only ET group achieved MCID thresholds for anxiety and depression
• Elastic tape produced large effect size for depression reduction (HADS-D d=1.02) with significant time×group interaction (p=0.001), and moderate effect for anxiety (d=0.51)
• Health-related quality of life improvements occurred similarly in both groups; study limited to nonobese males with moderate-to-very severe COPD

Why this matters at the bedside

Elastic tape may serve as a low-cost, non-pharmacological adjunct to enhance multiple domains of PR outcomes in severe COPD, particularly for reducing exercise ventilatory constraints and improving psychological symptoms. Findings suggest potential benefit in clinical settings, though generalizability to female patients and obese populations remains unclear.