Taping is widely used in sports medicine to prevent injury, protect affected sites post injury and relieve pain. However, it is not clear whether taping affects the perception of noxious stimulation because in previous studies, it was difficult to selectively activate Aδ fibers. A recently developed, useful, new tool named intra-epidermal electrical stimulation (IES) can preferentially activate Aδ fibers. We aimed to clarify the effect of taping on pain-related somatosensory evoked potentials (pSEPs) using IES. We recorded pSEPs following IES of the right medial forearm in twelve healthy volunteers. pSEPs were recorded from 9 electrodes on the scalp under control, elastic-taping and white-taping conditions. Under the control condition, subjects relaxed on a comfortable reclining seat without taping, whereas under the taping conditions, they were subjected to taping along the forearm with tension (elastic-taping) and without tension (white-taping). Subjects were asked to assign a visual analog scale (VAS) score after each session. The peak amplitudes of N2-P2 were significantly lower under the elastic-taping and white-taping conditions than those under the control condition. VAS was significantly lower elastic-taping condition than those under the control and white-taping conditions. Moreover, there was a significant positive correlation between the amplitude of N2-P2 and VAS. We revealed that taping along the forearm decreased pSEPs and subjective pain perception under the white-taping and elastic-taping conditions. The underlying mechanism of pain relief was the distraction effect in both taping conditions. In addition, elastic-taping with tension changes afferent inputs mainly from the skin, and this might more effectively decrease the subjective pain perception than that achieved under the white-taping condition.

There are few reports on the effects for children using the diagnostic method of Kampo medicine (called sho : pattern diagnosis). Therefore, we investigated the effects of combination therapy with Kampo medicines prescribed by specialists in this ancient form of medicine to children who were refractory to modern medicine. This was a retrospective observational study of 98 children (pre-school children (PS ; n = 21), elementary school students (ES ; n = 37) and junior high school students (JS ; n = 40)) younger than 16 years old at the first visit to our department of Chiba University hospital between April 2007 and April 2017. We collected the following information from their medical records : background, chief complaint, referral source, and efficacy of Kampo medicines. We evaluated efficacy for Kampo medicine as follows : Higher improvement (HI) (symptoms improved by 2/3 or more) ; Improvement (I) (symptoms improved by 1/3-2/3) ; Mild improvement (MI) (symptoms improved by 1/3 or less) ; constant ; aggravated ; and unknown or first visit only. Positive response (HI, I, and MI) due to Kampo medicines was observed in 76% (75/98) of patients. No aggravations were observed. The chief complaint by age was skin diseases in PS, digestive diseases in ES, and cardiovascular diseases in JS. Pediatrics was the primary referral in all ages, while 30% of JS were referred from psychiatry. Kampo medicine was significantly more effective for those in PS and ES compared to those in JS (p = 0.025). Combined use of Kampo medicine and modern medicine therapy is useful for children refractory to modern medicine.