Can taping reduce menstrual pain, distress, and anxiety? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Alka Pawalia; Usha Panihar; Vikram Singh Yadav; Shabnam Joshi

doi:10.5114/areh.2022.119587

Figures & Tables

PRISMA 2020 flow diagram for systematic reviews

Forest plot for Pain- mean differences between experimental and control groups

Forest plot for Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ)-mean differences between experimental and control groups

Forest plot for anxiety level- mean differences between experimental and control groups

The risk of bias assessment of included studies

S. No.	Author/Article detail	Random sequence generation	Allocation concealment	Selective reporting	Blinding of participants and personnel	Blinding of outcome assessment	Incomplete outcome data	Other sources of bias
1.	Forozeshfard et al., 2016 [19]	Low	Unclear	Low	Unclear	Low	Low	Low
2.	Lee and JuChae, 2016 [20]	Low	Unclear	Low	Unclear	Low	Low	Low
3.	Hanife et al., 2020 [21]	Low	Low	Low	High	Low	Low	Low
4.	Celenay et al., 2020 [14]	Low	High	Low	Low	High	Low	Unclear
5.	Lim et al., 2013 [22]	Low	High	High	High	High	Low	Unclear
6.	Choi, 2017 [23]	Low	High	Low	High	High	Low	High
7.	Boguszewski et al., 2020 [15]	Low	High	Low	High	High	Low	High
8.	Tomás-Rodríguez et al., 2015 [24]	Low	High	Low	Low	High	Low	Low

The methodological quality assessment of included studies (PEDro scoring)

PEDro Score		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total

S. No.	Author/Article detail	Eligibility criteria	Random allocation	Concealed allocation	Baseline Similarity	Subject blinded	Therapist Blinded	Assessor blinded	>85% subjects in end	Intention to treat	B/w group statistical analysis	Point measures & measure of variance	Out of 11
1	Forozeshfard et al., 2016 [19]	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Unclear	Yes	Yes	7/11
2	Lee and JuChae, 2016 [20]	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Unclear	Yes	Yes	7/11
3	Hanife et al., 2020[21]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	8/11
4	Celenay et al., 2020[14]	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	6/11
5	Lim et al., 2013[22]	Yes	Yes	No	Unclear	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	5/11
6	Choi, 2017[23]	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Unclear	No	Yes	Yes	5/11
7	Boguszewski et al., 2020 [15]	Yes	Yes	No	Unclear	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	5/11
8	Tomás-Rodríguez et al., 2015 [24]	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	6/11

The search strategy and results in different databases

Search terms in PubMed	Search terms in Cochrane Library
#1 Title & abstract (Kinesiotaping, Kinesio-taping, Tape, Taping) with OR operator resulted in 18,477 results.	#1 Title, abstract & Keywords (Kinesiotaping, Kinesio-taping, Tape, Taping) with OR operator resulted in 6151 results.
#2 Title & abstract (Premenstrual Syndrome, PMS, Menstrual, Menstruation, Dysmenorrhea) with OR operator resulted in 57602 results.	#2 Title, abstract & Keywords (Premenstrual Syndrome, PMS, Menstrual, Menstruation, Dysmenorrhea) with OR operator resulted in 12479 results.

#1 AND #2 resulted in 40 results.	#1 AND #2 resulted in 70 results.

Shows the characteristics of studies included in this systematic review

S. No.	Author/Country	Study Design	N/Groups	Duration/Follow up	Outcome measures	Conclusion
1.	Forozeshfard et al., 2016 [19] Iran	Cross over study	2 groups with 32 females KT in 1^st menstrual cycle, nothing in next Nothing in 1^st menstrual cycle, KT in next	Data collected on 3^rd day of menstrual cycle for two consecutive months	Pain, Disability	KT was effective in reducing menstrual LBP in young females
2.	Lee and JuChae, 2016 [20] Korea	Pretest-posttest design with nonequivalent control group	51 female university students, Experimental group (n = 26)- Balance taping (Self-administered) Control group (n = 25)	Balance taping applied for 4 weeks	Pain Distress	Dysmenorrhea significantly decreased in taping group
3.	Hanife et al., 2020 [21] Turkey	Prospective randomized controlled study	60 women Experimental group (n = 30)- KT& LF Control group (n = 30)- LF	3 months cycles for Evaluation, treatment & follow up respectively	Pain Distress Quality of life	Pain decreased while body awareness & quality of life increased more in KT group
4.	Celenay et al., 2020 [14] Turkey	RCT	45 women Experimental group (n =15)- KT with ligament technique Sham group (n =15)- sham taping Control group (n = 15)- no taping	KT was performed 2/week from the estimated day of ovulation up to start of next period Pre & post readings taken	Pain Anxiety	KT reduced pain & anxiety. Also some menstrual complaints in women
5.	Lim et al., 2013 [22] Korea	RCT	34 women into three groups: Experimental group 1 (n = 11)- kinesiotaping Experimental group 2 (n = 10)- Spiral taping Control group (n = 13)- no taping	Taping for a total of 6 times- 2 times/week for 3 weeks starting from 14 days before menstruation until its end	Pain Distress	Kinesiotaping reduced menstrual pain, spiral taping alleviated menstrual pain & PMS
6.	Choi, 2017 [23] Republic of Korea	RCT	32 females Experimental group 1 (n = 11)- Taping + hot pack Experimental group 2 (n = 10)- Taping only Control group (n = 11)- Hot pack	Readings 2 weeks before &on most painful day of menstruation. KT/hot pack therapy −10 days before the start of periods. Same interventions for next month	Distress	Significantly reduced PMS in taping with hot pack group
7.	Boguszewski et al., 2020 [15] Poland	RCT	44 women in 3 groups Group 1 (n = 16)- elastic KT Group 2 (n =14)- placebo - inelastic tape Group 3 (n = 14) - no intervention	5 days intervention: 1^st day data taken in every 2-hour intervals in day and every day for next 5 days	Pain Anxiety	KT significantly reduced menstrual pain in women
8.	Tomás-Rodríguez et al., 2015 [24] Spain	Randomized, single-blind, two armed clinical trial	129 Spanish women with PD (4 menstrual cycles). Experimental group (n = 75)- Medical tape Control group (n = 54)- Bandage patch	In 2 phases, with 2 menstrual cycles in each (total 4 menstrual cycles):	Pain Number of tablets taken	The intervention group reported less pain than pharmacological therapy also had lower intake of tablets

Can taping reduce menstrual pain, distress, and anxiety? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.

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Fig. 4.

The risk of bias assessment of included studies

The methodological quality assessment of included studies (PEDro scoring)

The search strategy and results in different databases

Shows the characteristics of studies included in this systematic review

Paradigm

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