Effect of complex decongestive therapy, cryotherapy and Kinesio taping in patients with post-mastectomy lymphoedema: a randomised controlled study

Objective To examine the effects of complex decongestive therapy (CDT), cryotherapy and Kinesio taping (KT) in patients with post-mastectomy lymphoedema. Subjects and Methods Sixty women diagnosed clinically by a physician with post-mastectomy lymphoedema, suffering from Stage 2 or 3 lymphoedema based on clinical investigations and aged between 40 and 60 years were randomly assigned in a single pre-post measurement study. They were divided randomly into three groups of equal size (A, B and C). The three groups received a CDT program: group A (n = 20) received CDT only, group B (<i>n</i> = 20) received CDT and cryotherapy, and group C (<i>n</i> = 20) received CDT and KT. The treatment program was applied three sessions per week for 12 weeks, and circumferential measurements, Visual analogue scale (VAS), Short-Form 36 (SF-36) and Universal goniometer (UG) were used on the three groups before and after the intervention program. Results The three groups demonstrated statistically significant improvements in all measured variables, and the post-testing for all assessed variables also revealed substantially significant differences in favour of group B when comparing between groups (A and B), in favour of group C when comparing post-test values between groups (A and C) and in favour of group B when comparing between groups (B and C) (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Conclusions Cryotherapy was more effective than KT and CDT, while KT was more beneficial than CDT in patients with lymphoedema.