• 
• 

Three Part Question

In [adults with acute knee injuries] does the [use of tubigrip] [lead to reduced pain and a quicker recovery time]

Clinical Scenario

A patient presents to your emergency department following an acute knee injury. You exclude a fracture and any acute significant meniscal or ligamentous injury and diagnose a knee sprain. You provide the patient with analgesia and RICE advice and wonder whether the application of a tubigrip will also help reduce their pain and lead to a quicker recovery.

Search Strategy

Ovid Medline 1966 - July week 1 2007
Ovid Embase 1980 - July week 1 2007
Medline and Embase: (exp Knee Injuries/ OR Knee injur$.mp/ OR Knee sprain$.mp/ OR Knee strain$.mp/ OR acute knee injur$.mp) AND (exp Bandages/ OR tubigrip.mp/ OR support bandage.mp/ OR elastic bandage.mp) limit to human and english language.

Search Outcome

Medline indentified 35 papers and Embase identified 15 papers, none of which were relevant to the three part question.

Comment(s)

No papers were found addressing the use of tubigrip in the management of acute knee sprains.

Editor Comment

BAF updating and using for Feb issue

Clinical Bottom Line

There is currently no evidence to say whether the use of tubigrip in acute knee sprains improves pain and shortens recovery time.