Efficacy of kinesio taping versus postural correction exercises on pain intensity and axioscapular muscles activation in mechanical neck dysfunction: a randomized blinded clinical trial.

While postural correction is commonly used for mechanical neck dysfunction (MND), efficacy of KT has received considerable attention. This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of kinesio taping (KT) versus postural correction exercises on pain intensity and axioscapular muscles activation in patients with MND.Randomized clinical trial for which forty six patients with MND were randomly assigned in to 1 of 2 groups received 4 weeks treatment; KT group: received kinesio taping, PCE group: performed postural correction exercises. Neck pain and axioscapular muscles activation in form of normalized root mean square of dominant upper trapezius and levator scapula muscles were measured pre- and post-treatment by visual analogue scale and electromyography. Two ways MANOVA was used to examine the effects of treatment on outcome measures. The variable of interest was the group-by-time interaction at an a priori alpha level of 0.05. Intragroup comparisons were performed using paired t-tests.Group by time interaction was statistically significant in multivariate test (F=3.114, P=0.031). KT produced more pain reduction than postural exercises (P<0.05). There was no significant interaction for either UT RMS (P=0.274) or LS RMS (P=0.59). In both groups, Paired t tests revealed that there was significant reduction in pain and muscle activation of both measured muscles (P<0.01).KT has been found to be more effective than postural exercises to reduce neck pain. However, both modalities have similar effects to reduce axioscapular muscles activation.