Effects of Kinesiotaping vs.Auricular Therapy in Primary Dysmenorrhoea.
Condition: Primary Dysmenorrhoea
MeSH terms: Dysmenorrhea
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study analyse the effectiveness of auricular therapy vs. kinesio tape treatment for pain
      management of women with primary dysmenorrhoea.
    

Detailed description: 
      Pharmacological treatments are not effective for all women and therefore, the objective of
      this study was to assess and compare the effectiveness of kinesio tape and auricular therapy
      to decrease pain and drug intake in women with primary dysmenorrhoea.

      A randomized controlled trial was conducted. 114 university women from 18 to 30 years old
      were randomized to 5 groups: control, kinesio tape, placebo kinesio tape, auricular therapy
      and placebo auricular therapy. The study was carried out during 4 menstrual cycles of
      pre-treatment phase, 4 menstrual cycles of treatment phase and two follow up phases (first
      and third cycle after the treatments were completed). During the treatment phase, the
      techniques were applied during 72h in each cycle.

      The primary outcome measures were: Mean pain intensity of the 3 first days of bleeding,
      maximum pain intensity, number of painful days and dose of drug intake measured with the
      Visual Analogue Scale.
    

Intervention name(s): Auricular therapy; kinesio tape; Auricular therapy Placebo group; kinesio tape Placebo group
Intervention type(s): Procedure; Procedure; Procedure; Procedure
Intervention description(s): The auricular therapy points were selected following the protocol for dysmenorrhoea described by Oleson (Oleson, 2008). These points were (the name of the European cartography is specified by the name of the point): Shenmen [FT2], uterus [FT5], sympathetic [HI4], kidney [CS6], heart [CI4], endocrine [IT2] and thalamus [PC2].; Before the tape application, the skin surface was removed of hair when needed and cleansed. The tapes were applied at 25% of tension and were placed horizontally covering the area between the antero-superior iliac spines and the postero-superior iliac spines and vertically from the navel to the symphysis pubis. All bandages were adhered to the skin with a technique type I with a space augmentation. The centre of the tape was removed and applied at 25% of tension. Afterwards, the rest of the protector were removed and the laterals anchors of the tape were adhered with no tension. The participant maintained a slight extension of the trunk while the tape was applied on the anterior aspect of the truck and a slight flexion while the tape was applied in the posterior aspect of the trunk.; Sham auricular therapy; Sham kinesio tape
Other intervention name(s): Auricular acupuncture; ear therapy; auriculotherapy; medical taping concept; neuromuscular taping
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Double-blind randomized clinical controlled trial. Participants were randomized to a auricular therapy group, an auricular therapy placebo group, a kinesio tape group, a kinesio tape placebo group and a control group for a 11 month study.
Masking: Double (Participant, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: auricular therapy; kinesio tape