Kinesiology Tape For Strength and Support
You may have seen bands of brightly colored tape adorning many athletes on television, social media, or in the media headlines. These brightly colored bands are actually an elastic sports and fitness tape designed to treat muscle, ligament, and tendon pain relief. They also provide proprioceptive support to help an athlete know how their muscles are moving during a game to prevent further injury. As a massage therapist, I love using this tape for helping improve awareness to improve posture and decrease the swelling around inflammation sites as well. Kinesiology tape is a growing trend that will continue to expand in the health and fitness industry.
Rather than a sling or brace, kinesiology tape is extremely lightweight and very comfortable to wear. I love using this tape on athletes for their lower back pain, knee pain, shin splints, and shoulder injuries. Because of its cotton and elastic properties, this tape can be left on, even in the shower, for four to five days. This tape will last through tough workouts as you sweat and can be worn in the water if you are planning on swimming. While a client is recovering from injury, I apply the tape directly along the muscle, ligaments, and tendons to provide external support, much like a brace. This tape provides feedback to your neuromuscular system to support recovery without having a heavy brace. Allowing the muscle to move slightly while you are in recovery prevents muscle atrophy and allows for better range of motion to be maintained during the healing process.
Everyday activities, such as sitting at a desk, driving, and lounging on your couch put you in a bent-over position where your back and shoulders are rounding forward. Over long periods of time, your body adapts to this position, creating imbalances and losing flexibility that encourages better posture. For clients with back, neck, and shoulder issues, KT tape is a helpful tool in relieving pain by providing better postural support to these muscles to help spread the stress across a wider range of muscles. By cuing the shoulders to pull back and keep your chest up, the stretch of the tape acts as a reminder to improve posture throughout the entire day, whether you are sitting or standing. By correcting postures over time that create stress on the upper back, neck, and shoulders, pain and trigger points can be eliminated so that relief can be found.
If you have experienced a recent injury or are having trouble improving your posture, please contact Stephanie at Blitz Body and Mind Massage therapy at (716)866-3261 to schedule an appointment.
