Keeping your body free of tension and pain is essential, especially for athletes or when you work in a profession that requires physical labor. Thanks to kinesiology, the science behind muscular and skeletal movement, new devices and techniques are now available to help protect and treat muscles, joints, and tendons. That’s where Kinesio Tape comes in.
Kinesio Tape is used by athletes or those with muscle injuries to support and relax muscles, alleviate pain, reduce inflammation, improve circulation, prevent muscle injury, and enhance performance. Kinesio Tape is carefully applied by chiropractors and is applied on top of an injured or strained area to stabilize it, but care is always taken to ensure that a muscle or tendon is never encircled with a ring of tape.
Chiropractors will gently lift the layer of skin and attached tissue covering a muscle so that blood and other body fluids can move more freely in and around that muscle. As you move, the tape, skin, and connective tissue over the muscle or tendon also move, pulling slightly away from the muscle and creating space for lymphatic fluid to flow around and cleanse the inflamed tissue.
Other athletic tapes are used to tape a muscle or joint to restrict motion and prevent further injury, but they also slow down the body’s natural healing process. Kinesio Taping uses the tape to open up the muscle and allow full movement. To speed healing and improve circulation, muscles must be kept moving.
Very popular with professional athletes and in the Olympics, Kinesio Tape is also comfortable and thin. Made of a porous cotton fabric, it allows the skin to breath and ensures a full range of motion. The fabric lets the skin breathe and has elasticity comparable to that of the skin and muscles. The sticky side of the tape uses a water-repellant, medical-grade acrylic adhesive that further supports the muscles and connective tissues.
Another plus, the tape can stay put for three to four days, even while sweating and showering. You may also be interested in a waterproof tape for use on hands and feet.