Can sticky tape ease your bad back?

Asticky elastic tape used by Olympic athletes to help prevent muscle strain is being tested as a new treatment for lower back pain. the theory behind it is that chronic back pain often stems from poor posture or minor injuries. As a result, some muscles become over-worked and tight, while others are under-used and become weakened.

this imbalance can in turn worsen posture, reduce movement in the spine and put additional strain on surrounding muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints.

Researchers say that placing the tape over the iliocostalis and longissimus muscles in the lower back — the socalled spinal erectors, a set of muscles that help straighten and rotate the back — can help improve posture, spreading the load between the muscles more evenly and easing back pain.

As a result, the weak muscles become stronger and provide more support, and the tense muscles will relax and have improved blood flow — further reducing pain.

the tape has already been found to reduce back pain fivefold in a study involving pregnant women.

Now, in a new trial starting this month, the effectiveness of the treatment will be tested on 60 men and women with chronic lower back pain.

kinesio tape, which was originally developed in Japan, is a thin cotton-based material that the researchers say has the same elastic quality as skin.

This means it provides physical support to stop the muscles from overstretching, but still allows normal movement. the adhesive tape has been used by athletes and other sports people to prevent injury by acting as a support for muscles. the number — and position — of the tapes can vary.

in the trial involving the pregnant women, 50 mothers-to-be were split into two groups.

All were given paracetamol, but only half had the tape therapy, consisting of four bands placed horizontally and vertically over the muscles of the back. According to the results published in the current edition of Medical science Monitor, at the start of the trial pain scores in the two groups were about the same, at 7.5.

After five days, the score had dropped to 3.3 in the paracetamolonly group and to 1.3 in the tape-plus-paracetamol group. similar improvements were seen in their ability to move. in the new trial at sao Paulo University in Brazil, 63 patients will have the special kinesio tape or a dummy tape.

While the active tape has elastic qualities to help allow movement of the muscle, the placebo tape does not. Researchers will measure muscle activity and pain intensity before and 30 minutes after the tapes are in position. the patients will also be assessed for how far they can twist their trunk.

Another trial at the University hospital Arnau de Vilanova, spain, with 63 patients, is also testing the effects of the tape on the lower back and comparing it to a placebo tape.

ian harding, an orthopaedic consultant at North Bristol Nhs trust, believes the tape has great promise.

‘One of the many causes of back pain is muscular pains or cramps,’ he says.

‘the technique can potentially help this type of discomfort and is a safe method of helping sufferers, enabling them to rehabilitate back to full activity.’