Abstract

Introduction: dysmenorrhea, with a prevalence of between 25-90 % of the female population, is a disorder characterized by frequent and severe pain associated with menstruation that can limit the development of women´s daily activities. The most common treatment is a pharmacological one, by using oral contraceptives. Objective: to determine the effectiveness of kinesio taping versus abdominal massage in dysmenorrhea. Material and method: Subjects: 20 women with dysmenorrhea, aged between 20 and 30 years of Alcala´s University, who didn´t take analgesics, anti-inflammatory or oral contraceptives and didn´t suffer from any other disease or skin allergy. Design: it consisted of a pilot randomized clinical trial, single blind. Procedures: a group (n = 10) was treated by applying kinesio taping and another group (n = 10), with abdominal massage. Both procedures carried out in the physiotherapy´s workshops of this Faculty and University. The outcome variable was the intensity of pain measured by the Visual Analogue Scale, that it was taken during the first 3 days of menstruation (cycle without treatment), as well as before and after a physiotherapy treatment and within the 3 next days after the start of it (the treatment cycle). Results: considered 95 % as interval of confidence and level of significance difference of p < 0.05 in all cases, in both groups there were significant differences among the three measurements of pain (p = 0.001), but with kinesio taping the decrease was continuous and with massage there were two big decreases with an increase in-between. Comparing both treatments, the size of effect (0.8) showed a significant difference between them, being massage more analgesic. Both groups were homogeneous except in some of the variables, which could be a bias between them and they would be considered confounding factors. Conclusions: both treatments should be considered as an alternative treatment for this disorder although massage more than kinesio taping.