Kinesio Tape Testimonials

Kinesio taping is not your normal stick-on solution

By Gary Mihoces, USA TODAY

There is an entirely different school of taping. It uses just a few strips of placed elastic, cotton tape. No encasing.

Called Kinesio taping, it originated in Japan about three decades ago. There are Kinesio taping procedures for all sorts of muscle and joint problems. The tape is meant to be left on for several days.

Kinesio taping for lower back pain, for example, involves two vertical strips on each side of the spine and one horizontal strip over the strained area.

"There is a method to the madness," says John Jarvis, director of the Kinesio Taping Association, a division of Albuquerque,-based Kinesio USA, a company which imports Kinesio tape from Japan for sale in the USA and Canada.

Jarvis says Kinesio taping "corrects muscle function, improves circulation of blood and lymph, repositions the joint and relieves pain."

The placing of the tape along muscles is aimed at assisting movement. "As the muscle fibers contract, Kinesio Tape supports the contraction by pulling and stimulating the skin and muscle back towards the origin," the Kinesio Taping Association says in its literature. It says the lifting of the skin by the tape (which has adhesive activated by body heat) allows lymph to drain more freely.

"It's completely different from what they (athletic trainers) were trained to do." says Jarvis. "They were going to immobilize something. This is encouraging range of motion."

Kinesio USA originally had tape that came in hot pink and blue. It has added beige and black to accommodate teams that don't want it to clash with their colors.

In his 2003 book Every Second Counts, Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong noted his team used "a special hot-pink athletic tape that came from Japan and seemed to have magical powers."

Armstrong added: "Sometimes we'd be so wrapped up in hot-pink tape that we'd look like dolls, a bunch of broken dolls But the tape worked, so we kept it, because it could fix things."

Jarvis says, "The Lance thing really helped us" and that Kinesio taping has the attention of athletic trainers.

See the original article on USATODAY.com

K-Tape and ALS

This is a wonderful testimony about Kinesio Tape and how it can be used in helping people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS.) I selected the portion of the article from the website that refers to Kinesio Taping. If you want to read the complete article, go to the website, then put the cursor over “David’s Story’ then select ‘Treatment Regiment’. The section I copied below appears toward the end of that article.

“The place I go for physical therapy is called Huber Associates in Auburn, ME. Steve Huber is the owner and my therapist.  He is another important link in my positive chain of support. When I first started there, he had just been certified in kinesiology taping. It looks like medical tape but on the sticky side it looks almost like a fingerprint design and has some elasticity to it.

Let me back up a bit and explain about my twitching. As everyone knows who has ALS, one of the biggest problems we have is never being able to forget you have this disease because you are in a constant state of twitching that never lets you have a break. My wife use to say that when we lie in bed close together it was like I was massaging her from my twitching.

Steve Huber looked at me on my first visit and said lets see if we can get rid of the twitching. He used the kinesiology tape on my back straight down my spine. I woke up the next morning and the first thing I noticed was all the twitching was gone except in my upper arms which still had decreased considerably. The first thing my wife said we she woke up was that she noticed a big difference in the amount of twitching. I couldn't believe it! I was finally getting a break. I still have him put it on once in a while when the twitching starts to return and it works every time.

Please see the original story at Surviving ALS website and Steve Huber is the owner of www.huberpt.com

What are they saying about this great tape?

“I just wanted to write and tell you how pleased I am with the results we are receiving from Kinesio® Tape … As I continue to learn and use the techniques of Kinesio Taping®, I am certain that the results will continue to be positive.”

Rick Griffin, Head Athletic Trainer (Seattle Mariners)

“We have been using Kinesio® for 3 years now… Kinesio Taping®  has been extremely helpful in providing acute injury and preventive taping. It definitely helps our players stay on the field.”

David Price, Head Athletic Trainer (New York Jets)

“Kinesio Taping® is very versatile, and the tape supports the injury while maintaining full range of motion and comfort. The fact that you use less tape than traditional methods and that you don‘t have to re-apply the tape (as frequently) makes this tape a great choice for treating chronic injuries”

Jerri Hestwood, ATC

"I love to use Kinesio Taping® by itself or in combination with other manual therapies such as myofascial release. Using only Kinesio Taping® for a patient with chronic De Quervains, the patient reported the pain and discomfort felt for years was gone within 2 days! On a 24 hour/day basis Kinesio Taping® releases just the right amount of tension on the tissues providing incredible relief. Kinesio Taping® really works.”

Nora Jreige, PT, CKTAP

“I have been a Physical Therapist for 27 years. Kinesio Taping® has been one of the most dramatic techniques that I have seen in the past 5 years. Kinesio Taping® has been filled in a missing link with my therapy. It continues the relaxation of the spasms and decreases the swelling between the therapy visits.”

Ken Lamm, PT, CKTI

“Kinesio Taping® helps with postural retraining and dynamic stability. It assists my patients for several days following their treatment.”

Bruce A. Franke Jr, PT, MTC, CKTAP

“I had a 58 year old female musician patient who fell hiking and sustained an acromio-clavicular third degree separation of the right shoulder. Three weeks after taping her, the patient was able to play in a concert. Thanks to Kinesio Taping®.”

Beate Carriere, PT, CIFK

“I have been splinting and casting for years and began taping over 10 years ago. Kinesio® Tape initially interested me because of its versatility, and elasticity…but the more I use it, the more I appreciate the phenomenal properties to decrease pain, edema, improve sensation and retrain muscles”

Trish Martin, PT, CKTI