Introduction: Shoulder impingement syndrome is the most common (44–65 %) shoulder impairment. Therapeutic exercise is the most effective conservative therapeutic intervention to treat this overload syndrome while combining it with other therapeutic interventions leads to better treatment outcomes than exercise alone. Elastic tapes are often used as supportive therapy, however, their added therapeutic effect is not clear. Purpose: The purpose of this diploma work is to analyse published scientific evidence on the effects of elastic taping in combination with therapeutic exercise in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome. Methods: Literature was searched in PubMed and PEDro databases. Results: Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, seven randomized controlled trials were included in this review. Studies report heterogenous results regarding comparison of patient groups with various therapeutic interventions, thus no firm conclusions about additional therapeutic effect of elastic taping can be drawn. Elastic taping in combination with therapeutic exercise tends to be more effective than therapeutic exercise alone and less effective than corticosteroid and local anaesthetic injections. Discussion and conclusion: The results of reviewed studies do not support use of elastic taping as a stand-alone intervention when treating a patient with shoulder impingement syndrome, but rather as an addition to therapeutic exercise and other physiotherapeutic interventions. Additional studies with higher methodological quality and more standardized research methodology are needed to reach more definite conclusions.
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