What Is Kinesio Taping?

Kinesio Taping has been around for about 30 years but it really hit the main stream during the 2008 Summer Olympics. Kerri Walsh, who was on the USA women’s beach volleyball team had a number of people talking about this "magic tape" when she had it applied to her shoulder. The mechanism of what Kinesio Tape actually did was not well understood by the general public but it seemed like everyone wanted it applied to them because it looked "cool" and seemed to be helping various sports injuries. To this day many athletes specifically find Certified Kinesio Taping Practitioners to help aid in their recovery from an injury or to even prevent one from happening.

What is it?

Dr. Kenzo Kase, a chiropractor and the inventor of the Kinesio Taping method, believed that when injured, the many soft tissue layers of the body (i.e. skin, fascia, muscle, blood vessels) needed a mechanical advantage in order to decrease the pressure that occurs between them when trauma is induced. In applying this concept, he believed he could enhance the body’s natural ability to heal itself. Using an elastic tape and applying it to the skin in various tensions and patterns, he discovered that it had a beneficial effect for certain injuries

Kinesio Tape has no medicinal properties and is latex free, waterproof, heat activated, and due to its elastic properties gives support and stability to the joints and muscles of the body without affecting normal range of motion and exhibits its efficacy through the activation of the neurological and circulatory systems. This tape can be worn for 3-5 days and can be used to reduce edema, enhance sports performance, for pain management, or even for preventative maintenance.

What does it do?

The method stems from the science of Kinesiology, which is the study of movement, and the active and passive structures involved. The muscles of the body are not only used in movement but also control (via contraction) the circulation of venous and lymph flows. Hence, failure of muscles to function properly can induce various kinds of symptoms in the body. The application of Kinesio Tape induces a biomechanical advantage to the area of physiologic dysfunction thereby giving free range of motion to the body’s musculoskeletal system and enhances its ability to heal itself.

Muscles of the human body are constantly contracting and relaxing within a normal range. However, when a muscle over-extends or, for that matter, over-contracts it cannot recover properly and becomes inflamed. This process fatigues the muscle and it becomes swollen, rigid, and subsequently the space between the skin and the muscle decreases thereby impairing lymphatic flow. This impairment applies pressure to the pain receptors beneath the skins surface and sends “discomfort signals” to the brain and in turn elicits pain. By applying Kinesio Tape to these areas proper physiologic function can be restored and the patient’s pain is subsequently palliated.