Kinesio Taping for Easing Athlete’s Pain in Ontario CA

In the early part of the 1970s, Japanese chiropractor Kenzo Kase developed kinesio taping with the purpose of facilitating the body’s natural healing process while allowing support and stability to muscles and joints without restricting the body’s range of motion. It successfully treated a variety of orthopedic, neuromuscular, neurological and medical conditions.

The method reached many countries worldwide over the years, and it began to be used by occupational and physical therapists, athletic trainers, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and other health care experts as well. First used by acupuncturists and chiropractors in Japan, today kinesiology tapes are used by practitioners throughout the world to treat injuries and improve sports performance.

Unlike any standard taping applied to athletes which often involve wrapping a joint for support and compression, RockTape, a specially designed kinesiology tape is placed in position in a variety of patterns depending on the injury. It is positioned and pulled to differing degrees of tension to create the desired effect and is typically worn for two to five days, unlike the standard tape, which is used mainly during an activity.

RockTape can be used to pull back a shoulder that is hunching forward. To reduce swelling in a joint, the tape can be used to pull up the skin and create an area of low pressure where body fluid can move and drain. Trained clinicians apply the tape to provide stimulation to skin cells that affects pain pathways — similar to rubbing a spot that hurts. The tape can be applied along the length of a tired muscle for support.  It is like allowing the muscles to go on vacation for a day or two so they come back healed.

Although there are varying opinion on the medium-term and long-term effect of the method, both therapists and athletes say kinesio taping is not harmful, and over the short-term it have beneficial effects to alleviate an athlete’s pain without interfering with the range of motion.

Some trainers use RockTape for their athletes during breaks in matches to make them feel better immediately.

Recent studies on kinesiology tapes showed some short-term effect. A study of 42 patients with shoulder pain, which was published in 2008 in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, found that range of motion improved immediately after application of the kinesiology tape, compared with a sham taping using no tension; although the study found no significant difference in pain or overall disability scores. Another study on 41 patients with whiplash after car accidents found statistically significant pain relief and improvements in range of motion with kinesiology taping compared with a sham tape. The effects were seen immediately and continued a day later.

Even if RockTape kinesiology tapes can be used and applied personally by anyone, it is best to get the help of trained professionals to put the tapes on you in the appropriate patterns for maximum benefits and for it to stay in place for longer days.

For information about RockTape kinesio taping, visit www.RockTapeCanada.com.  If you need a Rock Doc or physiotherapy practitioners in Ontario CA, you can find them by clicking on the link.

RockTape | Kinesiotaping - How Is It Done and How Does it Work?

There are differing schools of thought on the methodology for applying RockTape kinesiology tape. Early and persistent reasoning suggested that origin-insertion, muscle innervation and muscle action taping best serves to support/stimulate external body areas. This “anatomical approach” probably makes the most intuitive sense to medical practitioners as it follows anatomical “rules of engagement.”

Dr. Steven Capobianco, chiropractor and developer of the Fascial Movement Taping (FMT) method, argues kinesiotaping should be “based on the obvious yet largely overlooked concept of muscles acting as a chain… the body’s integration of movement via multi-muscle contractions as a means of connecting the brain to the body’s uninterrupted fascial web in order to enhance rehab and athletic performance via cutaneous (skin) stimulation. By taping movement rather than muscles, FMT has demonstrated greater improvement in both patient care and sport performance.” (Performance Taping Chain - Rotational Movement Disfunction)

Dr. Capobianco is not alone in this line of thinking. Leading fascia researcher, Robert Schleip, PhD, underscores movement and its role in pain and dysfunction. New research in addressing movement impairment, rather than joint and muscle pain, has initiated a fast growing movement model.₁

Additional support for this model comes from Thomas Myers in his groundbreaking book, Anatomy Trains.₂ He offers a template to assess, treat and manage body-wide motor dysfunction based on myofascial meridans, and movement impairment.

Application models aside, how is kinesiology tape theorized to work and what is the support?

As with anything that touches our body’s biggest organ, kinesiology tape has a cutaneous mechanoreceptor effect that stimulates those receptors to enhance body kinesthesia, or movement awareness. By stimulating large skin mechanoreceptors, kinesiology tape can downgrade painful stimuli from the nociceptors to decrease pain perception.

Recent research indicates that kinesiology tape has a greater stimulatory effect on compromised tissue (due to injury and/or fatigue). Thedon, et al.₃ conducted a study to evaluate body sway in individuals with and without tape. They found that the tape showed very little change in the uncompromised condition, but when the subjects were fatigued, the tape provided an added stimulatory effect to the skin helping to compensate for the loss of information fed to the brain from the muscles and joints. For the pain and performance community, this study provides insight into the ability of an “auxiliary” system, such as the skin, to augment treatment and training outcomes. Some of the “stickier and stretchier” kinesiology tape brands remain on the skin for up to five days thereby extending the stimulatory effect.

Visual evidence that “something” is happening occurs when kinesiology tape is used on bruising. The elastic pull on the epidermis/dermis layers creates an area of lower pressure to assist in fluid dynamics (acute/chronic edema₄). The pre-tape and post-tape photos (please see below) are most compelling. Where the tape was applied directly to the skin, bruising dissipates more rapidly than areas without tape.

Kinesio Taping for Pain Management in Ontario CA

A 2012 study 5 of 32 surgeons, showed a statistically significant reduction in neck and low back pain (using Oswestry Low Back Disability Index and Neck Disability Index) and functional performance (using neck and low back range of motion scores) with the use of kinesiotape during surgery. This may have far-reaching implications for other jobs/activities where sustained positions result in musculoskeletal pain.

A final and anecdotally successful use for kinesiology tape, also developed by Dr. Capobianco, is “power taping” during later pregnancy. An example is the “baby belt” application, which attempts to offload the abdominal strain by redistributing the stress to the upper scapula-thoracic area. The tape follows a fascial sling Thomas Myers calls the “spiral and superficial front lines.” He and other fascial pioneers suggest that skin stimulation enhances fascial proprioception and as the fascia encompasses the entire body in a “neuromyofascial web” a broader improvement in body posture results.

Clearly the use of kinesiology tape is popular (millions of users) and the applications are broad (from athletic injuries to edema). Specific evidence for efficacy is scant but growing, and plausible.

There are currently no reported dangers associated with using this elastic cotton mesh bandage, and the only significant contraindication is on open wounds. Kinesiology tape breathes well and flexes like a second skin, unlike most braces that act more like abrasive exoskeletons. It withstands sweat and/or water and is by most comparisons a cost-effective treatment modality.

While science is unlikely to discover that kinesiology tape is the panacea for all aches and injuries, health-care practitioners should keep this tool in the chest due to its vast possibilities in treating patient complaints.

Visit www.rocktapecanada.com for videos on how to apply RockTape for kinesiotaping.

Resources to visit:

·         7 Orthotics Industry Secrets

·         Foot Knee Back Therapists in Ancaster, Ontario CA