Dry needling versus kinesiology taping for myofascial pain syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effect of dry needling (DN) versus kinesiology taping (KT) on pain, disability, pressure pain threshold (PPT), and quality of life (QOL) in patients with myofascial pain syndrome (MPS).

The PubMed, Cochrane (CENTRAL), Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, and PEDro databases were searched for RCTs comparing the efficacy of DN versus KT in patients with MPS/myofascial trigger points (MTrP). Two researchers independently screened titles, abstracts, and full-text articles. Random-effect models were used to calculate standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Methodological quality was evaluated using the revised Cochrane Collaboration tool (RoB 2.0), and the overall quality of evidence was assessed via the GRADE approach.

Ten RCTs were included (n = 559 patients). The pooled analysis indicated that DN showed a small short-term improvement in terms of reducing pain (SMD: −0.37; 95% CI: −0.69, −0.06; P = 0.02; GRADE analysis: very low evidence) compared to KT. However, there were no significant differences between DN and KT for all other outcome measures immediately posttreatment or at short-term follow-up.

Very-low- to low-quality evidence indicates that DN may have a slight short-term effect in terms of reducing the pain level in patients with MPS compared to KT; however, no significant differences were found between the interventions concerning improvements in immediate pain relief, and in neck function, PPT, and QOL immediately after the intervention and at short-term follow up. Further high-quality RCTs are needed to determine which modality is superior.