At this time of year, with the winter football codes kicking off a new season, you’ll see a lot of union, league and football players sporting plenty of tape, particularly on their legs. A lot of it is kinesiology tape which is quite different from other types of strapping tape in the way it works.
Traditional strapping tape is non-elastic and wrapped around an injured joint or muscle to provide rigid support and restrict movement. Because of this, the rigid strapping needs to be removed after a short time. On the other hand, kinesiology tape has fantastic elastic properties that allow it to provide dynamic support. Active support like this can be seen as an almost second layer of support and it can assist weaker muscles. And due to its elastic nature, kinesiology tape allows full movement of the body parts, enabling an almost-normal range of motion.
The team uses a lot of kinesiology tape at our Kingsland physio clinic and when you check out its major benefits, you’ll see why. You’ll also see that you don’t have to be an athlete to get something out of it.
- Kinesiology taping is known to relieve pain through a variety of physical or neurological mechanisms. For example, the “lifting” action of the tape can relieve pressure on pain receptors located directly under the skin. Meanwhile, chronic pain can be reduced through the sensory stimulation of some nerve fibres.
- Because it lifts the skin, kinesiology taping creates negative pressure under the tape. This vacuum can let lymphatic drainage channels drain swelling and other inflammatory cells away from the affected area.
- The lift and depressuring principle we associate with kinesiology taping can assist in the reduction of lymphoedema (the swelling that occurs when the lymphatic system is not working properly). Lymphoedema can be localised to a specific area, or over a large area such as the arms or leg.
- Any active person knows that exercise and repeated muscle contractions can produce post-exercise byproducts, with lactic acid being one of the more common ones. This can cause poor muscle performance, fatigue cramping and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Kinesiology taping can help to remove lactic acid and other exercise byproducts.
- Kinesiology tape is able to provide physical and neurological support for dynamic structures such as muscles. This can enhance mobility during everyday activities, high-level sport or children with low muscle tone.
As we’ve suggested, kinesiology tape is not just for athletes. It has a wide range of applications for people from all walks of life. Contact us should you wish to discuss how it might help you.