Kinesio Taping for Neurogenic Bowel Dysfunction in Spinal Cord Injury

July 10, 2026 updated by: Meltem Gunes Akinci, Pamukkale University

Effectiveness of Kinesio Taping on Neurogenic Bowel Dysfunction in Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Neurogenic bowel dysfunction is a common complication of spinal cord injury and may cause constipation, difficulty with defecation, prolonged bowel care, incomplete evacuation, fecal incontinence, and reduced quality of life. This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Kinesio Taping added to a routine bowel management program in adults with spinal cord injury and upper motor neuron-type neurogenic bowel dysfunction.

Thirty participants will be randomly assigned to one of two parallel groups. The control group will receive a routine bowel management program, while the intervention group will receive Kinesio Taping in addition to the routine bowel management program. Kinesio Taping will be applied to the lower abdominal and lumbosacral regions three times per week for 4 weeks.

The primary outcome will be defecation frequency recorded using a 7-day bowel diary. Secondary outcomes will include stool consistency, defecation duration, perceived constipation severity, neurogenic bowel dysfunction severity, and health-related quality of life. Assessments will be performed before and after the 4-week intervention.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

30

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults aged 18 years or older with traumatic or nontraumatic spinal cord injury
  • Neurological level of injury at T12 or above
  • Upper motor neuron-type neurogenic bowel dysfunction
  • Duration of spinal cord injury longer than 6 months
  • Ability and willingness to provide written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Age younger than 18 years
  • Neurological level of injury below T12
  • Gastrointestinal disease diagnosed before the spinal cord injury, including irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease
  • History of conservative treatment for neurogenic bowel dysfunction within the previous 6 months
  • Colostomy or history of bowel surgery
  • Neurological disease other than spinal cord injury that may cause gastrointestinal or anal sphincter dysfunction
  • Cognitive impairment that may interfere with participation in the study

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Routine Bowel Management Program
Participants in this arm will receive an individualized routine bowel management program based on their clinical condition for 4 weeks. The program may include scheduled bowel care, dietary and fluid recommendations, appropriate positioning, physical activity, abdominal massage, rectal evacuation techniques, suppositories, enemas, and oral or rectal laxatives when clinically indicated. Participants will be instructed not to change their usual dietary habits during the study period.
Behavioral: Routine Bowel Management Program
Participants will receive an individualized routine bowel management program based on their clinical condition for 4 weeks. The program may include scheduled bowel care, dietary and fluid recommendations, appropriate positioning, physical activity, abdominal massage, rectal evacuation techniques, suppositories, enemas, and oral or rectal laxatives when clinically indicated. Participants will be instructed not to change their usual dietary habits during the study period.
Experimental: Kinesio Taping Plus Routine Bowel Management Program
Participants in this arm will receive Kinesio Taping in addition to the routine bowel management program for 4 weeks. Kinesio Taping will be applied to the lower abdominal and lumbosacral regions three times per week by the same experienced physician. The tape will remain in place for 2 days and will be removed before the next treatment session. A star-shaped correction technique will be applied to the lumbosacral region with 25%-50% tension, and an I-shaped correction technique will be applied to the lower abdominal region between the right and left anterior superior iliac spines. No tension will be applied to the ends of the tape
Behavioral: Routine Bowel Management Program
Participants will receive an individualized routine bowel management program based on their clinical condition for 4 weeks. The program may include scheduled bowel care, dietary and fluid recommendations, appropriate positioning, physical activity, abdominal massage, rectal evacuation techniques, suppositories, enemas, and oral or rectal laxatives when clinically indicated. Participants will be instructed not to change their usual dietary habits during the study period.
Other: Kinesio Taping
Kinesio Taping will be applied to the lower abdominal and lumbosacral regions three times per week for 4 weeks. The tape will remain in place for 2 days and will be removed before the next treatment session. A star-shaped correction technique will be applied to the lumbosacral region with 25%-50% tension. An I-shaped correction technique will be applied to the lower abdominal region between the right and left anterior superior iliac spines. No tension will be applied to the ends of the tape.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Defecation Frequency
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Defecation frequency will be recorded using a 7-day bowel diary and expressed as the total number of defecations during a 7-day period. Higher values indicate more frequent bowel movements.
Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Bristol Stool Form Scale Score
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Stool consistency will be assessed using the 7-point Bristol Stool Form Scale. Type 1 indicates separate hard lumps, while Type 7 indicates entirely liquid stool. Types 3 to 5 generally represent softer or more desirable stool consistency.
Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Change in Perceived Constipation Severity
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Participants will rate the overall severity of constipation on a 10-cm Visual Analog Scale ranging from 0 to 10. A score of 0 indicates no constipation, while a score of 10 indicates very severe constipation.
Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Change in Neurogenic Bowel Dysfunction Score
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Neurogenic bowel dysfunction severity will be assessed using the 10-item Neurogenic Bowel Dysfunction Score. The total score ranges from 0 to 47, with higher scores indicating more severe neurogenic bowel dysfunction.
Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Change in Short Form-36 Health Survey Scores
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Health-related quality of life will be assessed using the 36-item Short Form Health Survey. The instrument includes eight subscales, each scored from 0 to 100. Higher scores indicate better perceived health status.
Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Change in Defecation Duration
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Defecation duration will be recorded in minutes using a 7-day bowel diary. Participants will record the time required to complete each bowel evacuation. A shorter duration indicates less time spent on bowel care.
Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Change in the Feeling of Complete Evacuation
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
The feeling of complete bowel evacuation will be recorded in the 7-day bowel diary after each defecation. The outcome will be expressed as the number or proportion of defecations associated with a feeling of complete evacuation during the 7-day assessment period. Higher values indicate more frequent complete evacuation.
Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Change in Straining During Defecation
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Straining during defecation will be recorded in the 7-day bowel diary. The outcome will be expressed as the number or proportion of defecations accompanied by straining during the 7-day assessment period. Lower values indicate less frequent straining.
Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Change in Painful Defecation
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention
Painful defecation will be recorded in the 7-day bowel diary. The outcome will be expressed as the number or proportion of defecations associated with pain during the 7-day assessment period. Lower values indicate less frequent painful defecation.
Baseline and at the end of the 4-week intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Pamukkale University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

July 30, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

October 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 10, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 10, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 15, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 15, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 10, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • E-60116787-020-887485

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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