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Meta-Analysis
. 2022 May 3;12(1):7146.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-11034-w.

Safety and efficacy of therapeutic taping in primary dysmenorrhea: a systematic review and meta-analysis

E M I A Bandara  1   2 , W N I Kularathne  3   4 , K Brain  5 , Ishanka Weerasekara  3   5
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Safety and efficacy of therapeutic taping in primary dysmenorrhea: a systematic review and meta-analysis

E M I A Bandara et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) is a common gynecological condition among adolescent and adult women. Several pharmacological and alternative therapies (e.g. therapeutic taping) have been used to treat PD, with varying effect. This systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of therapeutic taping on clinical symptoms of PD, considering pain as the primary outcome. MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Embase, PEDro, CINAHL and gray literature sources were searched from inception to February 2022 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed the effect of therapeutic taping for PD. The language was restricted to English. A total of ten studies were included in the systematic review, involving 685 participants. Eight studies were included in quantitative analysis. The quality of the studies ranged from 4 to 7 with a median of 5 as assessed by PEDro scale. Meta-analyses indicated short-term improvements of pain compared to sham and no interventions. Elastic therapeutic taping (ETT) indicated short term improvements in anxiety associated with PD. Moderate to high quality of evidence suggested that ETT is an effective intervention in improving pain, anxiety, and quality of life of women with PD. A scarcity of evidence on the long-term effects of therapeutic taping in PD is observed.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic illustration of therapeutic tape application for PD. (a) front view (b) back view.
Figure 2
Figure 2
PRISMA flow diagram of search results.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Risk-of-bias of the included studies, presented as the percentage that met the PEDro scale criteria. Abbreviation: PEDro physiotherapy evidence database.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Meta-analysis and sensitivity analysis (effect of ETT vs no intervention on pain). (a) Forest plot (REM/MD). (b) Funnel plot (REM/MD). (c) Funnel plot (REM/SMD).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Meta-analysis and sensitivity analysis (effect of ETT vs other Sham taping on pain). (a) Forest plot (REM/SMD). (b) Funnel plot (REM/SMD). (c) Funnel plot (FEM/SMD, excluding two outliers).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Meta-analysis and sensitivity analysis (effect of ETT vs other interventions on pain). (a) Forest plot (REM/MD). (b) Funnel plot (REM/MD). (c) Funnel plot (FEM/SMD, excluding three outliers).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Meta-analysis and sensitivity analysis (effect ETT vs no interventions on anxiety). (a) Forest plot (REM/MD). (b) Funnel plot (REM/MD). (c). Funnel plot (FEM/SMD, excluding three outliers).
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