I recently attended a very interesting and exciting continued professional developpment course on Kinesiology taping. In this post I’ll attempt to explain what it can do for you.
The basics
Kinesiology taping is the application of an adhesive, elastic tape to the skin, to achieve a movement or health goal. Below are some of these goals taping can help with.
Pain and symptom reduction
On of the effects of laying an elastic tape on skin is decompression of the sittue just below the skin. This does wonders to reduce some instances of pain, and facilitates the circulation of fluids in the superficial layers of the body. For instance, it can help accelerate the resolution of hematomes and oedema.
This also allows tissue to glide better amongst themselves, facilitating movement in can of light tissue restrictions.
Movement optimisation
Another effect an elastic tape has once on the skin is that it changes the way we perviece movement (as anyone who once had a poorly placed plaster can tell you). We can use that to our advantage by sticking the right amount of tape at the right place with the right amount of tension to “guide” the nervous system to change movement patterns, and help people move better. This allows some athletes to perfect their movement, and some people with, for instance, a gait issue to correct it quickly and efficiently.
