INTRODUCTION: Postoperative edema of predominantly lymphatic origin is a significant hindrance to physiotherapy in patients subjected to limb lengthening by the Ilizarov method. New treatment methods are being sought, and Kinesiology Taping is one of them. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study involved 24 patients of both sexes subjected to lower limb lengthening using the Ilizarov method who had developed edema of the thigh or crus of the lengthened extremity. The mean age of the patients was 21 years. The patients were randomized into two groups of twelve, which were then subjected to 10 days of standard physiotherapy. The study group was additionally treated with Kinesiology Taping (lymphatic application), while the control group received standard lymphatic drainage. Treatment results were assessed by comparing the linear circumferences of the lower limbs before and after the treatment. RESULTS: The application of Kinesiology Taping in the study group produced a decrease in the circumference of the thigh and crus statistically more significant than that following lymphatic drainage. CONCLUSIONS: 1. Both standard edema-reducing treatment in the form of lymphatic massage and Kinesiology Taping significantly reduced lower limb edema in patients treated by the Ilizarov method. 2. The application of Kinesiology Taping in the study group produced a significantly faster reduction of the edema compared to standard lymphatic massage.

Ortop Traumatol Rehabil. 2009 Jan-Feb;11(1):46-54. Bialoszewski D, Wozniak W, Zarek S. Division of Rehabilitation, Department of Physiotherapy, 2nd Medical Faculty, Medical University of Warsaw. bialoszewski@wum.edu.pl

The kinesiology concept is used worldwide and by many different professional groups with scientific aspirations. Yet nobody seems to know much about where it comes from and why it came into existence. This article traces the origins of the concept back to one of Sweden's greatest cultural exports of the nineteenth century - Swedish gymnastics - and the efforts of especially Swedish physiotherapists and physical educators to spread its scientific doctrines throughout the world. Primarily their goal was to convert the representatives of conventional medicine (pharmacology) into a more mechanical mode of understanding and curing illness (physiotherapy). While following in the footsteps of one physiotherapist/physical educator -'the father of kinesiology'- and examining the ideological and historical conditions his so-called 'mission' was ruled by, the social construction of knowledge and science is made visible in a way seldom highlighted in the history of medicine and physical education.

nt J Hist Sport. 2010;27(11):1892-1919. Ottosson A. Department of History, Gothenburg University.

Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2010 Jun;31(2):200-3. Pelham TW, Holt LE, Holt J. School of Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2010 Feb;40(2):82-94. Neumann DA. Marquette University, Physical Therapy Department, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881, USA. donald.neumann@marquette.edu