Background: Stroke is one of the causes affecting gait and balance. Taping is considered an effective method for improving balance and gait in stroke patients. Numerous studies have confirmed the functional effects of taping in stroke patients. However, there is still no consensus regarding the use of taping to improve gait and balance.
Objects: The purpose of this review was to investigate the effects of taping on the balance and gait of patients with stroke through meta-analysis of studies.
Methods: PubMed, Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Review, RISS, DBPia, and Science on were used to collect articles on Kinesio and non-elastic taping. The key terms were “Stroke”, “Hemiplegia”, “Taping”, “Tape”, “Balance”, and “Gait” with cut-off of October, 2022. Taping group was compared with control groups with sham, placebo, and no taping. The outcome measures included the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, and gait speed (cm/s). Eighteen studies (524 patients) were selected for the meta-analysis.
Results: Overall, taping improved balance and gait in stroke patients, and Kinesio and nonelastic taping had similar effect sizes. Taping improved the BBS and TUG, and was most effective on gait speed. Contrary to the expectation that a longer duration of taping would be more affective, taping was most effective when the total taping duration was shorter than 500 minutes. In addition, the effect size of taping was greater when it was simultaneously attached to multiple locations.
Conclusion: This meta-analysis supports the use of taping to improve gait and balance in stroke patients, and provides guidelines for the location, duration, and type of tape to increase taping efficiency.

INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
    1. Search Strategy
    2. Eligible Criteria
    3. Study Selection
    4. Study Quality
    5. Data Collection Process
    6. Calculating Effect Size
RESULTS
    1. Publication Bias
    2. Study Quality
    3. Overall Effect Size of Taping
    4. Subgroup Analysis
DISCUSSION
CONCLUSIONS
FUNDING
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTION
ORCID
REFERENCES

• Eun-Ji Kim(Department of Physical Therapy, The Graduate School, Yonsei University)
• Joo-Hee Park(Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, Yonsei University)
• Yixin Wang(Department of Physical Therapy, The Graduate School, Yonsei University)
• Hye-Seon Jeon(Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, Yonsei University) Corresponding author