Effect of taping as treatment to reduce breast cancer lymphedema: literature review.

Lymphedema is the most common complication during the postoperative period after surgery for breast cancer and can have a direct impact on daily activities. The objective of this study was to review the use of taping as an alternative/complementary treatment to reduce lymphedema. A literature review was conducted of scientific articles indexed on the PubMed, LILACS, MEDLINE, and PEDro databases and Google Scholar, and nine articles were selected. It was found that taping is a complementary therapy for reducing lymphedema, which may be used as an alternative treatment method, but cannot substitute multilayer compression therapy.