Can tape help reduce chronic low back pain?
Many people are familiar with kinesiology taping, which is using special tape to help address areas on the body that have pain or injury. Athletes have been taping particular areas of their body when there is pain for decades, but what about it helping people who suffer from chronic low back pain? Researchers set out to explore whether or not taping would help those with chronic low back pain. So can tape help in reduce chronic low back pain? Well let’s find out now.
In the May 2021 issue of the BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
To conduct the study, they recruited 110 patients who have chronic low back pain. They had half of them use taping therapy, referred to as Medi-Taping, and the other half were given the standard treatment of patient education and physiotherapy. The new Medi-Taping treatment option has been devised for those who have pelvis obliquity, which is a misalignment of the pelvis where one hip is higher than the other.
The study was conducted over a three-week treatment period, with measurements taken at the beginning and end, as well as at the two-month follow-up point. Patients reported the measurement of low back pain, as well as their level of disability.
What the study showed was that both groups benefited from the treatment that they received. However, those who had used the taping method had a slightly better improvement. The researchers found no significant difference between the end point and follow-up. One of the most important aspects of this study is that participants who used the Medi-Taping therapy reported that their health-related quality of life was significantly higher.
Those who suffer from chronic low back pain may benefit from using the Medi-Taping method of addressing their pelvis obliquity. Since the 1970s, people have been using kinesiology taping as a way to address specific conditions, including:
- pain
- sore muscles
- muscle fatigue
It’s an affordable treatment option, which makes it a low-risk investment for those who want to give it a try and see if it will bring about relief.
While a physical therapist or other pain management professional may show you how to use the taping method from the start, it’s often something that you can repeat on your own at home. Considering the tape would be going on your back, you would likely need help with you with the tape placement.
Medi-Taping provides one more tool for our chest of options to try to bring about chronic pain relief. Speak with your doctor if you’d like to give this method a try. There’s a good chance, according to the researchers, that you may improve your quality of life if you do. And so to answer our question earlier “Can tape help reduce chronic low back pain?” the answer is yes it can help but be sure to speak with your doctor first.
Source:
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. Assessment of taping method combined with manual therapy as a treatment of non-specific chronic low back pain. May 2021. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33947367/
