Effectiveness and clinical relevance of kinesio taping in musculoskeletal disorders: A protocol for an overview of systematic reviews and evidence mapping

Abstract

IntroductionKinesio taping (KT) has been extensively applied in the management of musculoskeletal disorders. Although plentiful systematic reviews (SRs) have evaluated its efficacy, there are no convincing conclusions due to disperse and inconclusive results, and its clinical relevance remains unclear. Hence, there is a need to summarise all the SRs for the comprehensive and consistent evidence. This overview aims to appraise the overall effectiveness of KT in musculoskeletal disorders, and provide evidence maps to visualise the findings.Method and analysisElectronic databases (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, MEDLINE, Embase, Epistemonikos, PEDro, Scopus, ISI Web of Science) and reference lists will be searched from inception to September 2024 for the SRs of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). The SRs involving comparisons of the effectiveness between single or adjunctive KT and other interventions for patients with musculoskeletal disorders will be included. The primary and additional outcome to be considered will be the core outcome set, and the patient-reported outcome measure and patient-important outcome, respectively. Two reviewers will independently screen and select studies, extract the data, and evaluate the reporting and methodological quality of eligible SRs as well as the risk of bias of included RCTs. For the SRs without meta-analysis, we will collate the number of RCTs that showed any differences in outcomes. For the SRs with meta-analysis, we will provide the original summary of evidence (e.g., pooled effects and heterogeneity) for outcomes with an evaluation of missing results and clinical relevance. The certainty of each outcome will be measured, and user-friendly maps of findings will be presented graphically.Ethics and disseminationFormal ethical approval for this study is not required, since the data will be only collected from published literature in public databases. The results will be disseminated in the peer-reviewed academic journal, and relevant datasets will be preserved in the online repository.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42024517528Strengths and limitations of this study●This study will be carried out and reported following the Cochrane Collaboration Handbook for Overviews of Reviews and the Preferred Reporting items for Overviews of Reviews statement.●This study will only include systematic reviews with and without meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.●This study will evaluate the reporting and methodological quality of systematic reviews, examine the risk of bias and degree of overlap of randomised controlled trials, and manage discordant results by selecting the most representative research.●This study will perform the assessment of missing results and certainty for the evidence, interpret the clinical relevance between effects and outcomes, and provide evidence maps of comprehensive and systematic findings.●This study may not be up-to-date as newly published randomised controlled trials will not be included, and ultimate conclusions will probably be limited by clinical heterogeneity due to variations in dose or application method of kinesio taping.