Investigation of the Effect of Kinesiotape Application to the Surgical Area on Pain, Mobilization, Sleep, and Patient Satisfaction

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of kinesio tape application applied to the surgical area after soft tissue surgery performed in orthopedic services on pain reduction, sleep quality, mobilization, and patient satisfaction. The study will be completed with 120 participants, divided into 40 experimental, 40 control, and 40 placebo subjects. A simple randomization method will be used to provide an equal number of samples in the three groups, where patients will be asked to choose a number from a bowl containing numbers 1-120. Patients will be interviewed the day before or on the morning of the surgery, educated about the procedures, and written consent will be obtained. During the collection of postoperative pain data, an 8-hour waiting period will be applied to account for the effects of painkillers and anesthetics, and the first VAS (Visual Analog Scale) measurement will be made at the 8th hour. Kinesio tape will be applied to the experimental group at the 8th hour, and since the literature suggests a 45-minute wait for the effect of kinesio tape, the second measurement will be made at the 9th hour; subsequent measurements will be taken at the 10th, 12th, and 24th hours. Similar procedures will be applied to the placebo group using a plaster tape in an ineffective manner, while no intervention will be applied to the control group; both tapes will be kept on for 24 hours and removed after the last measurement. Sleep status will be evaluated using the RCSQ (Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire) 24 hours after surgery. Mobilization, including in-bed mobility and walking, will be evaluated using the Patient Mobility Scale at the 12th and 24th hours. Finally, patient satisfaction and quality of recovery will be assessed using the QoR-40 scale in all three groups at 24 hours after surgery