Efficacy of kinesio taping on pain, pain threshold and emotional status in tension-type headache

Abstract

BACKGROUND: One of the most important sources of pain in tension-type headache(TTH) is myofascial tissues. For this reason, there is a direct relationship between the sensitivity of the muscles and the presence of TTH. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of Kinesiotaping (KT) on upper trapezius muscle on the reduction of pain and emotional state in the treatment of patients with WITH by acting on myofacial mechanoreceptors. METHODS: This study was conducted in 271 patients aged 30-45 years with TTH diagnosed. Patients were randomly divided into 2 groups. While KT and stretching exercises were performed in the study group, only the stretching exercise was performed for the control group. KT was applied 8 times in total for 4 weeks with 2 sessions per week. Stretching exercise was done in the morning, afternoon and evening 3 times every day for 4 weeks and 5 days of the week. After recording the demographic data of all the patients participating in the study, assessed the sensitivity of the right and left upper parts of the trapezius with algometer, pain intensity with visual analog scale(VAS).Beck depression and anxiety scale for emotional status before and after treatment. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Pain severities of the patients, pain thresholds of the trapezius muscle and depression and anxiety levels showed a statistically more significant improvement in the KT group than in the control group (P=0.005, <0.001, <0.001,0.010). CONCLUSIONS: It has been determined that KT combined with stretching exercise reduces pain severity, increases pain pressure thresholds, and also improves depression and anxiety symptoms in TTH.