Comparative analysis of Kinesio taping and dry-needling: effects on pain and disability in patients with mechanical low back pain

Background & Objective: Low back pain (LBP) is an ever-increasing menace in the young men as well as women. Many factors causing it have been identified, the most common being improper spinal posture. LBP has been targeted by physicians, anesthetists, surgeons and rehabilitation medicine specialists. We compared the effects of Kinesio Taping and dry needling on pain reduction and disability improvement in patients diagnosed with mechanical chronic LBP. Method: A randomized control trial (RCT) was conducted at Rawal General and Dental Hospital and Al-Nafees hospital in Islamabad from January 2020 to October 2021. Probability-based sampling method was used to select participants for the study (simple random sampling). Thirty patients, aged 18 to 75 y were included. Sample size was calculated with Epitools. The selected patients were divided in two groups i.e., 15 patients in the Kinesio taping group (KT group) and 15 in the dry needling group (DN group). Two patients in the needling group were dropped. Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) and Roland-Morris Disability Index Questionnaire (RMDQ) were used to assess the pain and the disability at baseline, two weeks post-intervention and four weeks post-treatment. Chi-Square test was use to find association. Results: The mean age of the patients was 39.60 +/- 13.69 y for KT group and 37.15 +/- 12.54 y for DN group. The mean BMI for KT group was 27.15 +/- 6.70 kg/m(2) and for DN group 27.52 +/- 5.13 kg/m(2). Before treatment, there were no differences between the groups for NPRS and RMDQ. Both dry needling and Kinesio taping produced significant improvements in NPRS and RMDQ after two and four weeks of treatment (P < 0.05). However, statistical analysis results showed that there was no association between pain and disability in patient with non-specific low back pain. (P > 0.05). Conclusion: : Both, Kinesio taping and dry needling, significantly reduced pain and disability after two- and four-weeks treatment in patients with low back pain, but there was no statistical differences between the pain and disability in both groups.