Insights To Get You Moving

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Have you found yourself spending many hours tuned into the Olympics over the past week? If so, you may have noticed many Olympians sporting some colorful body tape located on various parts of their bodies. This trend seems to span many sports including volleyball, track and field, swimming, diving, and the list goes on. Although some may think this is a fashion trend (tan lines, eek!) amongst the athletic crowd it does actually serve a therapeutic rehab purpose. In fact, the colorful tape has been around for many years, it’s called Kinesio tape.

What is it Kinesio tape?

Kinesio tape is a non-medicated cotton tape that is applied to the body in areas of strain or to improve performance following an injury.

How Does it Work?

The tape has a very specific elasticity built into the weave pattern of the cotton fabric, which mimics the elasticity and thickness of human skin, allowing it to integrate, support and stabilize without adversely affecting healthy ranges of motion.  Standardized pre-cut patterns, called “spiders” from SpiderTech, can be applied to many specific regions of the body allowing an injured athlete to perform better and with more confidence.

Who is it Suitable for?

Though the focus seems to be on athletes, Kinesio tape is an effective modality for the non-athletic patient population as well. When properly applied the tape works to help weak areas of the body both structurally and by recruiting underlying muscles for support.

We’ve had great success with this technique to restore strength after injury and relieving pain from strains. If you think this would be a treatment option for you – give us a call at 703.709.1116.

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