Kinesiology Tape Not Just Beneficial For High Performance Athletes
DAYTON, Ohio (September 24, 2018) - Today’s athletes are trend setters with their various therapeutic techniques being splashed all over social media, and Kinesiology tape (K tape) is just one of those that has recently grabbed the spotlight.
However, JD McCoy, DC, a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician® with Premier Orthopedics, said you don’t have to be a high sports performer to enjoy the benefits of K Tape.
“The primary reason people use it is for performance,” said Dr. McCoy, who practices with Premier Physician Network. “But I use it in my practice to help in the healing process after I have made chiropractic adjustments to patients. Adjustments can create sore muscles from stretched tissue, but the use of K Tape can help alleviate that.”
Kinesiology tape, or K Tape as it is known, was invented by a Japanese doctor and first debuted by athletes with the Japanese national volleyball team in 1989. This original K Tape was made for athletic performance, but over the years has expanded in its use as well as its variety of brands. The therapeutic tape can now be purchased under various names – such as Rock Tape, KT Tape and MuscleAid Tape – as well as a long list of colors.
The magic of K Tape is that it recruits blood vessels in a way that helps place blood flow where the tape is placed. The result is an increase in oxygen and decrease in inflammation and swelling. The tape can also be used to increase lymphatic drainage. Muscles that work hard create lactic acid build up, but the use of K tape can help reroute that drainage faster.
K Tape also has the ability to slightly lift skin, which can offer extra space needed for swollen muscles.
“Everybody who comes into my office gets K Tape,” he said. “In the first community in which I practiced medicine, there was a joke around town that if someone was wearing a strip of K Tape they knew they had been to my office.”
Dr. McCoy quickly learned the benefits of K Tape and how it could complement his chiropractic work and help speed up recovery. If he adjusts a person’s lower back, for instance, he places one strip of K Tape up one side of the back and another on the other side for the postural muscles. He adds a third strip across the sacroiliac joint for added support.
“When we started to use K Tape on people who were not engaged in athletics we noticed we could shave off two appointments in their overall therapy schedule because they were recovering faster,” Dr. McCoy said. “That’s a really big deal.”
Dr. McCoy recommends people consider the following before going out and buying their own K Tape:
Get a diagnosis – K Tape is readily available, but don’t be too quick to go grab a roll. Chances are you are dealing with an injury or pain that may first need a diagnosis. Find out from a doctor why you have the pain in the first place. Using K Tape without a diagnosis may just mask a bigger problem allowing you to continue in an activity that your body may need rest from.
Remember its purpose – K Tape was created to aid healing, not to create stability. Use athletic tape if you need a more secure ankle, and consider K Tape if you need to alleviate pain from an arthritic knee.
Create a limit – Don’t continue to tape or engage in activity for more than a couple of days. Pain that persists should be evaluated immediately.
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