Low back pain keeps us very busy with assessments, issuing advice, massage and rehabilitation. Many professionals also use other treatments such as acupuncture, electrotherapies and in many cases kinesiology tape.
The question you might ask is: Is it worth taping in addition to the time tested combination of exercise and advice?
It would appear so: A 2021 meta-analysis by Sun and Lou reviewed 12 randomized controlled trials, involving a total of 676 patients, who had undergone treatment for at least two weeks.
Their goal was to compare outcomes for patients receiving Physical Therapy (PT) + Kinesiology Taping (KT) with those receiving Physical Therapy alone.
Key Findings
- Pain Reduction
The analysis found that combining KT with PT produced significantly greater reductions in pain than PT by itself.
- Improved Function / Disability
Not only did KT seem to help with pain, but it also improved disability scores. This is a clear indication of improved quality of life.
Imperfect Research
Of the 12 studies included in the review many of them used methods that led to low quality evidence, including not blinding the participants, this also means they did not use placebo taping – which we discussed in the last blog.
What Does This Mean for Practice?
There is moderate evidence that adding kinesio taping to physical therapy may yield better short-term outcomes in pain and disability for patients with chronic low back pain. However, it's not a magic bullet—treatment effects are modest, and the quality of evidence isn’t high.
If you're a professional, it may be reasonable to consider KT as an adjunct tool, But it should not replace core evidence-based PT strategies.
RockTape presents a low-risk and low-cost option for managing low back pain.
RockTape Back Pain Taping Video
Reference: Sun, Guangchen MB; Lou, Qiliang MB∗. The efficacy of kinesio taping as an adjunct to physical therapy for chronic low back pain for at least two weeks: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Medicine 100(49):p e28170, December 10, 2021. | DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000028170