Investigation of the Effects of Kinesio Taping and Manual Therapy in Patients With Bruxism

Participants in this group received 4 weeks of manual therapy and massage of the masticatory muscles intra and extra orally together with massage of the cervical muscles. Massage and Manual Therapy brings about benefits by increasing local circulation and decreasing muscle tonus . Additionally, stretching exercises aiming to decrease pain and elongate shortened masticatory muscle fibers by autogenic inhibition of the masseter muscle were performed.

Participants in this group had an application of Kinesio Taping on the masseter muscles. The material used for bruxism Kinesio Taping application was Kinesio Tex Gold Finger Prints (Kinesio Holding Corporation, Albuquerque, USA), a 100% cotton, latex-free, 5-cm wide, elastic tape. Kinesio Taping placement was chosen according to principles described by Kase et al. Tapes were cut 2.5 cm in width (cut in half vertically from 5 cm width). Two strips of Kinesio Tape were crossed over the masseter muscle area with 0-5% tension in maximum stretched epidermis position. Web-cut strips epidermis-dermis-fascia technique were used. Tape was applied bilaterally after every session of manual therapy.