Kinesiology tape has risen in popularity ever since its conception in the 1970s. It was invented by a Japanese chiropractor, Kenzo Kase, and today, there are more than 50 brands of kinesiology tape on the market. Kase wanted to invent a treatment that provided support and aided the body’s natural healing processes without limiting the movement of the body, like other athletic tapes and treatment options.
If you watched the Olympics back in 2012, you probably saw tonnes of athletes donning the colourful stripes of tape over their shoulders, backs, knees and other areas of the body. This is what’s known as kinesiology tape. It is a therapeutic tape that can be applied in a strategic way and on specific parts of the body to provide support, lessen pain, reduce swelling and improve performance.
More research needs to be done in order to confirm its benefits, but for now, there are tonnes of athletes and enthusiasts who have claimed that kinesiology tape has helped them with their injuries. More specifically, kinesiology tape can help with the reduction of swelling and bruising.
To understand how it does this, it is important to understand what causes swelling and bruising and what processes are involved. Both can be an after effect of becoming injured, with some people experiencing swelling and bruising for apparently no reason or with an unknown cause.
In a nutshell, bruising occurs when small veins and capillaries (tiny blood vessels) in your body break. This can occur due to a bump or as a result of other injuries. They can also be an indication of a bleeding disorder, if you suffer from bruises seemingly coming from out of nowhere. Once the blood vessels break, your red blood cells leak out and collect underneath your skin. This then causes the bluish, purplish, reddish, brownish or blackish mark that is seen on the skin’s surface.
On the other hand, swelling has to do with an increase of white blood cells in an area of your body. It is the result of increased movement of fluid and white blood cells to an injured area. This is the body’s healthy reaction to an injury. These white blood cells work on repairing an injury after it has occurred. Swelling is usually accompanied by other symptoms like heat or redness because of the extra blood flow in the injured area. Although it is a sign that your body is in working order, sometimes swelling can become chronic. Chronic swelling leads to the inability to use those muscles in the injured area, leading to muscle atrophy. This occurs if you haven’t used the muscles underneath the swelling for a while and they become weakened to the point of disuse.
Both bruising and swelling have to do with white or red blood cells, and other liquids, flooding an area of the body. The use of kinesiology tape to reduce this has a direct effect on reducing swelling and bruising. The tape will move with your body because of its elastic nature, without restricting you. Other athletic tape options restrict blood flow, whereas kinesiology tape promotes an increase in blood flow. The use of kinesiology tape in an affected area will offer a key benefit in that it encourages and maintains proper circulation. This is crucial when healing an injury.
Another thing kinesiology tape is built for is allowing fluids to drain from an area because of the lifting of the skin that occurs during its use. By gently lifting up the skin, the tape applies negative pressure just underneath the skin, enabling all the pooled blood and other liquids to drain. This clears the way for fresh blood to get to an injured area, and this new blood will promote further healing.
In terms of helping bruising, kinesiology tape can speed up the healing time of bruises as well in a similar manner that it helps reduce swelling. It helps the body get rid of old fluids so that newer fluids can replace it.
In general, the reason kinesiology is great for the recovery of swelling and bruising, along with a myriad of other injuries, is that it helps improve circulation. This includes blood flow and lymphatic fluids. Lymphatic fluids consist of proteins, bacteria and other chemicals that are your body’s natural regulation fluids. When the kinesiology tape is applied, it is theorized that it creates a subcutaneous space and changes the pressure in the area under your skin. This change of pressure enhances the flow of your lymphatic fluids.
What else can kinesiology tape be used for?
Treating Injuries
Physiotherapists will use kinesiology tape as part of a treatment plan for their patients who have been injured. Kinesiology tape can be the most effective when it is used in conjunction with other treatments, such as manual therapy.
Supporting Weak Muscles And Joints
Kinesiology tape can also be used to give added support to muscles or joints that are in pain with daily use. Unlike other athletic tapes that do not allow movement, kinesiology tape is different in that it lets you have an entire range of motion even when it is applied. Studies show that when athletes with weak or fatigued muscles use kinesiology tape, their performance improves.
Re-educating Muscles
Kinesiology tape is able to help you retrain muscles that have lost function or muscles that have gotten used to an improper way of working. For example, kinesiology tape can be used to correct posture in your head or your neck. And it has even helped stroke patients with the way they walk. Some physical therapists have the opinion that it helps patients be more aware of their body parts because it is a different sensation on the skin, so patients become more aware of the way they are standing or moving.
Enhance Performance
Many athletes apply kinesiology tape before a big event to help them enhance their performance and protect against any potential injuries.
When Shouldn’t You Use Kinesiology Tape?
There are a few conditions that should not be treated with kinesiology tape. There are times when you shouldn’t increase blood flow to specific areas of your body. Here are a few examples:
– If you suffer from deep vein thrombosis (DVT, or blood clotting). If one of your blood clots were to break free and travel to your brain, lungs or heart it could be fatal. Taping for blood clots should never be done.
– If you are diagnosed with cancer, using tape can help spread the cancer cells to other areas of the body. The tape might also provide more blood flow to cancerous growths, which is very dangerous.
– If you are suffering from an infection, then you should never apply the tape to the area of the infection. This and if you’ve got an open wound, do not apply the tape over your open wound.
These are just some of the conditions that you shouldn’t treat with kinesiology tape, as it can cause way more harm than good.
If you have any questions or doubts about whether or not you should use kinesiology tape, then always consult your doctor or other medical professional. Never use it without the guidance of the proper techniques or placement.
Author’s bio
Rhett Desormeaux is a content writer currently working with BreezeMaxWeb. He’s a passionate writer and loves studying ancient history, especially Bronze Age civilizations.
