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Benefits of Kinesio Taping for Your Body

Kerri Walsh - Gold-medalist in beach volleyball at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, she has been called one of the greatest beach volleyball players of all time.

 

Lance Armstrong - 7 time winner of the Tour de France, the most famous event in competitive endurance cycling, after recovering from testicular cancer, he is an inspiration to the world.

 

Serena Williams - The top-ranked woman tennis player, she has won 27 Grand Slam titles till date and looks set for more.

 

What is common between these three, besides being great American athletes?

They have all acknowledged the benefits of Kinesio taping on their bodies and are frequent users of this remarkable invention in sports science.

 

Kinesio tape is an elastic therapeutic tape used for treating athletic injuries and a variety of physical disorders. Invented by Japanese chiropractor Dr. Kenzo Kase in the 1970s, it was initially used by medical practitioners in Japan, with professional athletes in the country soon catching on its benefits. Popularity of Kinesio tape surged after its prominent visibility during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing when several athletes became regular users. Now it has users across the world.

 

In fact, it can be used to treat a wide variety of problems like muscular facilitation or inhibition in pediatric patients, carpal tunnel syndrome, shoulder conditions, lower back strain/pain (subluxations, herniated disc), hamstring, groin injury , rotator cuff injury , whiplash, tennis elbow, plantar fasciitis, knee conditions, patella tracking, pre and post surgical edema, ankle sprains, etc.

 

Trivia: The name Kinesio comes from Kinesiology, the science of human movement. Its origins can be traced back to the Greek words kinesis (movement) and kinein (to move). Kinesiology is used to assess human movement, performance , and function by applying the sciences of biomechanics, anatomy, physiology, and motor learning .

 

The benefits of Kinesio taping for different parts of your body are:

 

1. Muscles: Kinesio tape can be used to relax overused muscles (in therapy ) and facilitate underused muscles (in rehabilitation).

    

2. Skin: Application of the tape causes a massage-like skin movement that directs lymph away from an affected area . When placed over areas affected by fibrosis, the lifting action of tape and assists in softening the affected tissues.

    

3. Joints: Kinesio tape can be placed to stabilize the joints.

    

4. Blood: The wave pattern found on the adhesive of tape has a lifting effect on the skin which reduces swelling and inflammation by improving blood circulation .

    

5. Nerves: Kinesio tape reduces pressure on pain receptors resulting in significant pain relief, decreased numbness and increased sensitivity .

 

It must be stressed that the effectiveness of Kinesio tape is highly dependant on proper placement and technique . Hence, professional training is advised before you try it at home.

 

There can be no better testimonial to the effectiveness of Kinesio taping than the one provided by Lance Armstrong in his bestselling book "Every Second Matters", where he described the product as "Something better than any laser, wrap, or electric massager85The Tape. It is a special hot-pink athletic tape that came from Japan and seemed to have special powers. Every morning before the stage, they would tape us all up, different parts of our bodies . . . Back of George, Knees of Chechu. Sometimes we had been so wrapped up in hot-pink tape that we had look like dolls, a bunch of broken dolls. But the next day the pain disappeared-it was gone."

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