You will be presented with a collection of medical randomized controlled trial (RCT) reports addressing a shared clinical question -- for instance, the efficacy of a medical intervention on a disease or condition. Given the titles and abstracts of these reports, your task is to generate the conclusion of the systematic review article synthesizing the key findings. Your conclusion should be a few sentences long. In your response, include only the conclusion and no other text. The RCT reports are below.



Title 1:
The clinical efficacy of kinesio tape for shoulder pain: a randomized, double-blinded, clinical trial.
Abstract 1:
STUDY DESIGN Prospect i ve , r and omized , double-blinded , clinical trial using a repeated- measures design . OBJECTIVES To determine the short-term clinical efficacy of Kinesio Tape ( KT ) when applied to college students with shoulder pain , as compared to a sham tape application . BACKGROUND Tape is commonly used as an adjunct for treatment and prevention of musculoskeletal injuries . A majority of tape applications that are reported in the literature involve nonstretch tape . The KT method has gained significant popularity in recent years , but there is a paucity of evidence on its use . METHODS AND MEASURES Forty-two subjects clinical ly diagnosed with rotator cuff tendonitis/impingement were r and omly assigned to 1 of 2 groups : therapeutic KT group or sham KT group . Subjects wore the tape for 2 consecutive 3-day intervals . Self-reported pain and disability and pain-free active ranges of motion ( ROM ) were measured at multiple intervals to assess for differences between groups . RESULTS The therapeutic KT group showed immediate improvement in pain-free shoulder abduction ( mean + /- SD increase , 16.9 degrees + /- 23.2 degrees ; P = .005 ) after tape application . No other differences between groups regarding ROM , pain , or disability scores at any time interval were found . CONCLUSION KT may be of some assistance to clinicians in improving pain-free active ROM immediately after tape application for patients with shoulder pain . Utilization of KT for decreasing pain intensity or disability for young patients with suspected shoulder tendonitis/impingement is not supported . LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapy , level 1b-


Title 2:
The effects of Kinesio Taping on body functions and activity in unilateral spastic cerebral palsy: a single-blind randomized controlled trial.
Abstract 2:
AIM The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Kinesio Taping ( KT ) on the body functions and activity of children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy ( CP ) . METHOD This study was design ed as a single-blind , r and omized , controlled trial . Thirty children with unilateral spastic CP were r and omized and split equally between the  KT group ( eight males , seven females ; mean age 9y [ SD 2y 3mo ] range 7 - 12y ) and the control group ( seven males , eight females ; mean age 9y 7mo [ SD 3y 4mo ] range 7 - 14y ) receiving usual care . All participants were evaluated with the Functional Independence Measure for Children ( WeeFIM ) , the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency ( BOTMP ) , the Gross Motor Function Measure ( GMFM ) , short-term muscle power , agility and functional muscle strength tests . Wilcoxon signed-rank and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to evaluate within and between-group differences respectively . The level of significance was accepted as p<0.05 . RESULTS There were significant differences in muscle power sprint ( p=0.003 ) , lateral step-up test right ( p=0.016 ) , sit to st and ( p=0.018 ) , attain st and through half knee right ( p=0.003 ) , BOTMP Gross scores ( p=0.019 ) , and WeeFIM total ( p=0.003 ) and self-care scores ( p=0.022 ) between the groups ( p<0.05 ) . INTERPRETATION Kinesio Taping is a promising additional approach to increase proprioceptive feedback and improve physical fitness , gross motor function , and activities of daily living in children with CP


Title 3:
Improved scaling of the gross motor function measure for children with cerebral palsy: evidence of reliability and validity.
Abstract 3:
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE This study examined the reliability , validity , and responsiveness to change of measurements obtained with a 66-item version of the Gross Motor Function Measure ( GMFM-66 ) developed using Rasch analysis . SUBJECTS AND METHODS The validity of measurements obtained with the GMFM-66 was assessed by examining the hierarchy of items and the GMFM-66 scores for different groups of children from a stratified r and om community-based sample of 537 children with cerebral palsy ( CP ) . A subset of 228 children who had been reassessed at 12 months was used to test the hypothesis that children who are young ( < 5 years of age ) and have " mild " CP will demonstrate greater change in  GMFM-66 scores than children who are older ( ( 5 years of age ) and whose CP is more severe . Data from an additional 19 children with CP who were assessed twice , one week apart , were used to examine test-retest reliability . RESULTS The overall changes in GMFM-66 scores over 12 months and a time ( severity ( age interaction supported our hypotheses . Test-retest reliability was high ( intraclass correlation coefficient=.99 ) . CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION This study demonstrated that the GMFM-66 has good psychometric properties . By providing a hierarchical structure and interval scaling , the GMFM-66 can provide a better underst and ing of motor development for children with CP than the 88 item GMFM and can improve the scoring and interpretation of data obtained with the GMFM


Title 4:
The PEDro scale is a valid measure of the methodological quality of clinical trials: a demographic study.
Abstract 4:
QUESTIONS Does the PEDro scale measure only one construct ie , the method ological quality of clinical trials ? What is the hierarchy of items of the PEDro scale from least to most adhered to ? Is there any effect of year of publication of trials on item adherence ? Are PEDro scale ordinal scores equivalent to interval data ? DESIGN Rasch analysis of two independent sample s of 100 clinical trials from the PEDro data base scored using the PEDro scale . RESULTS Both sample s of PEDro data showed fit to the Rasch model with no item misfit . The  PEDro scale item hierarchy was the same in both sample s , ranging from the most adhered to item r and om allocation , to the least adhered to item therapist blinding . There was no differential item functioning by year of publication . Original PEDro ordinal scores were highly correlated with transformed PEDro interval scores ( r = 0.99 ) . CONCLUSION The PEDro scale is a valid measure of the method ological quality of clinical trials . It is valid to sum PEDro scale item scores to obtain a total score that can be treated as interval level measurement and subjected to parametric statistical analysis


Title 5:
Training postural control and sitting in children with cerebral palsy: Kinesio taping vs. neuromuscular electrical stimulation.
Abstract 5:
OBJECTIVE To eluci date the effects of Kinesio Taping ( KT ) in addition to neurodevelopmental therapy ( NDT ) on posture and sitting , and to compare the effects of KT and neuromuscular electrical stimulation ( NMES ) . MATERIAL S- METHODS Seventy-five children were r and omized into control , KT , and NMES groups . NDT was applied to all children 4 times a week for 4 weeks . In addition , KT and NMES were applied to KT and NMES groups , respectively . Sitting subset of Gross Motor Function Measure ( GMFM ) and kyphosis levels of the groups were analyzed by two way mixed ANOVA . RESULTS GMFM and kyphosis values improved significantly in all groups ( all p < 0.01 ) , yet change levels were more prominent in the KT and NMES groups than the control group . Moreover , NMES group showed better improvement . CONCLUSION KT or NMES application for four weeks in addition to NDT is effective on improving kyphosis and sitting . Besides , NMES is more effective than KT


Title 6:
The Effects of Therapeutic Taping on Gross Motor Function in Children with Cerebral Palsy
Abstract 6:
Purpose : Therapeutic taping to address dysfunctional sitting control in children with cerebral palsy ( CP ) was investigated in this study . Methods : Eighteen children with quadriplegic CP , Gross Motor Function Classification System for Cerebral Palsy levels IV ( n = 9 ) and V ( n = 9 ) participated in the 12-week program . Subjects were assigned r and omly to one of two groups : therapeutic taping + physical therapy or physical therapy only . Therapeutic taping was applied for periods of up to 72 hours over the paraspinal region . The effects were assessed with the Gross Motor Function Measure ( GMFM-88 ) at baseline , six weeks , and 12 weeks . A factorial analysis of variance was used to examine group differences over time . Results : No significant differences were found for the GMFM-88 scores between groups over time . Conclusion : Therapeutic taping does not evoke a positive functional change in the seated postural control of children with quadriplegic cerebral palsy . Subjective observation , however , suggested that one child with athetosis benefited from therapeutic taping over the paraspinal region


Title 7:
The effects of Kinesio® taping on sitting posture, functional independence and gross motor function in children with cerebral palsy
Abstract 7:
Purpose : The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Kinesio ® tape ( KT ) application on sitting posture , gross motor function and the level of functional independence . Method : The study included 31 cerebral palsied children scored as level III , IV or V according to gross motor functional classification system ( GMFCS ) . Children were r and omly separated into two groups as study ( n = = 15 , receiving KT and physiotherapy ) and control ( n = = 15 , receiving only physiotherapy ) . KT application was carried out for 12 weeks . Gross motor function measure ( GMFM ) , functional independence measure for children ( WeeFIM ) and Sitting Assessment Scale ( SAS ) were used to evaluate gross motor function , independency in the activities of daily living and sitting posture , respectively . Results : Compared to initial assessment s , both groups showed a significant difference in parameters of GMFCS sitting subscale , GMFCS total score and SAS scores ( p < 0.05 ) . At the end of 12 weeks , only SAS scores were significantly different in favour of the study group when the groups were compared ( p < 0.05 ) . Also , post-intervention WeeFIM scores of the study group were significantly higher compared to initial assessment ( p < 0.05 ) , however , no difference was detected in the control group ( p > 0.05 ) . Conclusions : No direct effects of KT were observed on gross motor function and functional independence , though sitting posture ( head , neck , foot position and arm , h and function ) was affected positively . These results may imply that in clinical setting s KT may be a beneficial assistive treatment approach when combined with physiotherapy
Conclusion There is moderate evidence to support kinesiology taping applied to the trunk as an effective intervention when used as an adjunct to physiotherapy to improve GMF in children with CP , especially those with GMF Classification Scale levels I and II , and particularly for improving sitting control .
Clinical implication s Kinesiology taping is a useful adjunct to physiotherapy intervention in higher functioning children with CP .