TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of kinesiology taping on experimentally-induced thermal and mechanical pain in otherwise pain-free healthy humans
T2 - A randomised controlled repeated-measures laboratory study
AU - Banerjee, Gourav
AU - Briggs, Michelle
AU - Johnson, Mark I.
PY - 2019/12/10
Y1 - 2019/12/10
N2 - Background Kinesiology taping (KT) is used to manage musculoskeletal-related pain. There is a paucity of physiological studies evaluating the effect of KT on stimulus-evoked experimental pain. Objective To investigate the effect of KT (applied to lumbar region) on cutaneous somatosensation to noxious and innocuous stimuli in humans with a non-sensitised normally functioning nociceptive system using quantitative sensory testing (QST). Methods Fifty-four participants were randomised to one of three interventions: (i) KT (ii) standard ‘rigid’ taping (ST) (iii) sham taping (ShT). QST measurements were taken at lumbar sites pre-intervention (T1), during-intervention (T2) and during-intervention (T3) in the following sequence: warm-detection-threshold (WDT), heat-pain-threshold (HTPh), heat-pain-tolerance (HPTo), mechanical-detection-threshold (MDT), mechanical-pain-threshold (MPT) and pressure-pain-threshold (PPT). Results Mixed ANOVA revealed statistically significant interaction between Intervention and Time on MDT (p < .0005) and MPT (p < .0005) but not on WDT (p = .09), HPTh (p = .09), HPTo (p = .51) and PPT (p = .52) datasets. There was no significant simple main effect of Intervention on MDT at T2 (p = .68) and T3 (p = .24), and MPT at T2 (p = .79) and T3 (p = .54); post-hoc tests found KT and ST groups had higher (but non-significant) MDT and MPT than the ShT group. There was a significant simple main effect of Time on MDT and MPT for KT (p < .0005) and ST (p < .0005) groups; post-hoc tests found significant increases in MDT and MPT at T3 and T2 compared with T1 in both KT and ST groups. There was no significant simple main effect of Time on MDT (p = .13) nor MPT (p = .08) for the ShT group. Conclusion Taping, irrespective of the elasticity, may modulate cutaneous mechanosensation. KT, ST and ShT seemed to have similar influence on cutaneous thermal and deep pressure nociception.
AB - Background Kinesiology taping (KT) is used to manage musculoskeletal-related pain. There is a paucity of physiological studies evaluating the effect of KT on stimulus-evoked experimental pain. Objective To investigate the effect of KT (applied to lumbar region) on cutaneous somatosensation to noxious and innocuous stimuli in humans with a non-sensitised normally functioning nociceptive system using quantitative sensory testing (QST). Methods Fifty-four participants were randomised to one of three interventions: (i) KT (ii) standard ‘rigid’ taping (ST) (iii) sham taping (ShT). QST measurements were taken at lumbar sites pre-intervention (T1), during-intervention (T2) and during-intervention (T3) in the following sequence: warm-detection-threshold (WDT), heat-pain-threshold (HTPh), heat-pain-tolerance (HPTo), mechanical-detection-threshold (MDT), mechanical-pain-threshold (MPT) and pressure-pain-threshold (PPT). Results Mixed ANOVA revealed statistically significant interaction between Intervention and Time on MDT (p < .0005) and MPT (p < .0005) but not on WDT (p = .09), HPTh (p = .09), HPTo (p = .51) and PPT (p = .52) datasets. There was no significant simple main effect of Intervention on MDT at T2 (p = .68) and T3 (p = .24), and MPT at T2 (p = .79) and T3 (p = .54); post-hoc tests found KT and ST groups had higher (but non-significant) MDT and MPT than the ShT group. There was a significant simple main effect of Time on MDT and MPT for KT (p < .0005) and ST (p < .0005) groups; post-hoc tests found significant increases in MDT and MPT at T3 and T2 compared with T1 in both KT and ST groups. There was no significant simple main effect of Time on MDT (p = .13) nor MPT (p = .08) for the ShT group. Conclusion Taping, irrespective of the elasticity, may modulate cutaneous mechanosensation. KT, ST and ShT seemed to have similar influence on cutaneous thermal and deep pressure nociception.
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0226109
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0226109
M3 - Article
C2 - 31821349
AN - SCOPUS:85076143272
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 14
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 12
ER -