Kinesiology Tape: How a Simple Piece of Tape Can Take Your Training and Performance to the Next Level

Many of you have seen the strange strips of tape on the shoulders and legs of Olympic athletes, especially the highly visible shoulders of the women’s beach volleyball team.

How does athletic taping work and what can it do?

Not all kinesiology tape is created equal, and you get what you pay for. Tape with the most stretch, better adhesive qualities and without skin reactions are the qualities that are the most desirable.

Kinesiology tape can be applied for decompressing, rather than compressing and restricting blood flow to an injured area, which when properly applied will promote blood flow, thus aiding in reducing swelling and pain. It does this is when the proper tension is placed on the tape which will stretch up to 180% of its relaxed length. The gentle retraction of the elastic qualities of the tape lifts the skin, relieves pressure of the underlying capillary beds and thus promotes blood and lymph flow. This can be used to reduce swelling in an injured tissue, or conversely, help prevent injury by reducing fatigue and cramping. Following an injury it can be applied to compress and restrict motion, thus reducing the range of motion of the areas it is applied to and aid in injury recovery.

The skin is full of stretch receptors (nerves) which give information about the body’s position to the brain. This information can be manipulated with proper application of the tape to relieve joint, ligament, and tendon tension ultimately reducing pain and correcting improper motion at the affected joints/tissues.

Kinesiology tape is made for competition, and is engineered to meet the high demands of endurance athletes like runners, swimmers, cyclists, as well as the weekend warriors. Quality brands are waterproof and will remain on the skin for up to 5 days even if after swimming, showering or sweating.

Dr. Casey Ferguson DC, at Conservative Pain Solutions in Eugene Oregon http://www.conservativepainsolutions.com, is skilled in the application and usage of kinesiology tape. Dr. Ferguson is a certified Rocktape Roc Doc www.rocktape.com, and provides care at racing and sporting events.