Kinesio taping in rehabilitation

You have probably noticed at least once in the past, perhaps while taking a walk in the park, bumping into Bootcamp groups or watching the Olympics on TV, athletes of all kinds wearing funny coloured strips of tape and wondered “what is that”?

Its a thing. It certainly isn’t the latest fashion trend available on the sports wear market! It’s called Kinesio taping and is an effective injury prevention or rehabilitation tool.

Its advanced design combined with knowledgeable application performed by a qualified physiotherapist or osteopath allows the tape to both support and help drainage of the tissues it is applied to.

While adhering to your skin, this very elastic tape fabric achieves a soft lifting action that creates microscopic convolutions in the skin itself. This facilitates increased vascular and lymphatic supply to the area.

The benefits

The effects of this are beneficial for a number of reasons:

– reduction in pain by targeting different receptors within the somatosensory system
– reduction in inflammation by helping flush away the waste products of the metabolism and return the body to good homeostasis
– improvement of local vascularisation facilitating the permeability of nutrients through tissues
– support for ligaments, tendons or muscles that have been strained, promoting optimal function of tissues

For all the above reasons Kinesio Tape can enhance any athlete’s performance.

Whether you are recovering from an injury or going through particularly tough training and feel that a specific part of your body isn’t copying as well as it should, Kinesio taping can help you.

Your physiotherapy or osteopath will always need to go through a full case history and examination process to be able to tell whether Kinesio taping is an appropriate course of treatment. In fact, there are many ways in which it can be applied and your case history and symptom picture determines the shape, length and stretch the physiotherapist or osteopath will employ during application of the Kinesio tape.

Conditions

Kinesio taping is largely used in the management of the following conditions:

– shoulder impingement and rotator cuff syndrome
– muscles tears
– ankle and knee sprains
– rib pain
– acute disc injuries
– repetitive strain injuries of elbow and wrist