The Effectiveness of Kinesio Taping in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain

Effectiveness of Kinesio Taping and Conventional Physical Therapy in the Management of Chronic Low Back Pain

The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of Kinesio taping (KT) with Conventional Physical therapy (CPT) - Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) and Supervised Exercise therapy and CPT in the management of CLBP.

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is one of the most common causes of chronic disability which leads to major social and economic consequences. The role and effectiveness of the Kinesio taping (KT) and Conventional Physical therapy (CPT) are evident from the existing literature but no comparison was found on the combination of other physical therapy techniques such as supervised exercise therapy and Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) with CLBP in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Kinesio taping: The tape is measured from the sacrum to the 12th thoracic vertebra with forwarding flexion of the trunk. The base is affixed to the insertion in the resting position. The muscle is elongated and the base anchored with skin displacement. The tape is then affixed with 10% stretch paravertebrally over the muscle bundles up to T12. The tape is rubbed with the muscle in the elongated state.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation device settings, such as the frequency of 80 Hz, the pulse width of 100 µs, and symmetrical biphasic waveform. Four mediums sized (2 × 2 cm) carbon-impregnated rubber cutaneous electrodes were placed bilaterally in a standard dermatomal pattern over the most painful lumbar region. The current intensity was increased up to the patient's perception of paraesthesia. The supervised exercise therapy management consisted of stretching exercises for the back, iliopsoas, gluteal and hamstring muscles, and strengthening exercises for the abdominal and back muscles. Three sets of stretching exercises, each involving a 30-sec hold and 30-sec of rest repeated three times, were performed in three sessions per week over four weeks. One set of strengthening exercises, consisting of 10 repetitions with a 5-sec hold, was performed in three sessions per week over four weeks.

Pain, for the Average pain intensity over the last week was measured on a numerical pain rating scale, where 0 represented no pain and 10 represented the worst pain possible

Disability were measured using the Modified Oswestry Disability Index (MODI) which is a self-rating questionnaire used to evaluate functional physical disability

Inclusion Criteria: Pain caused by mechanical/nonspecific low back pain. Degeneration of the spine and intervertebral disc. The visual analog scale of pain 4 and above Low back pain for at least three months Exclusion Criteria: Physical therapy treatment is taken in the past 6 months period Previous spinal surgery with fixation Structural anomalies Spinal cord compression Severe osteoporosis Acute infections Severe cardiovascular or metabolic diseases Pregnant women

Pakkir Mohamed SH, Al Amer HS, Nambi G. The effectiveness of Kinesio taping and conventional physical therapy in the management of chronic low back pain: a randomized clinical trial. Clin Rheumatol. 2023 Jan;42(1):233-244. doi: 10.1007/s10067-022-06352-3. Epub 2022 Sep 1.