Effectiveness of kinesio tape in people with low back pain. A systematic review with meta-analysis.
Jacqueline Inostroza-Quiroz, Ricardo Solano-López, Claudio Bascour-Sandoval and 6 others
PMID 41874378WHAT IT FOUND
Kinesio tape reduces short-term pain and improves function in acute low back pain compared to no treatment, but shows little benefit over placebo.
Physical therapy outperforms tape for long-term chronic pain. Tape may help pregnant women with pain, but evidence for radiating pain is uncertain.
Key findings
01Compared to no intervention, kinesio tape probably reduces pain intensity and may improve functionality in acute low back pain.
02For chronic low back pain, tape reduces pain and may improve function in the first two weeks compared to no intervention, but effectiveness versus placebo is uncertain.
03Physical therapy demonstrated superiority over kinesio tape for the long-term management of chronic low back pain.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Many included studies had a high risk of bias, particularly regarding randomization methods and blinding. Heterogeneity was high across many comparisons, leading to very low certainty of evidence for several outcomes. The definition of 'short-term' and 'long-term' varied, and subgroup analyses were not pre-specified in the protocol. Results for specific populations like pregnant women and those with radiating pain were based on few studies with inconsistent findings.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest and received no external funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret short-term pain reduction as long-term clinical benefit. The evidence shows that while tape may reduce pain initially compared to no treatment, it is less effective than physical therapy for chronic conditions and shows little advantage over placebo for functionality in many cases.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →