Strapping/Taping: Types & benefits
Zinc Oxide Tape
Zinc oxide tape is widely used in sport and physiotherapy as a strapping tape – typically to strap up injured limbs and joints to limit or prevent movement. A good example of its use is for a sprained ankle. The ankle can be immobilised by strapping it up with zinc oxide tape, stopping the ankle from being sprained again and causing additional damage to the ligaments. It is also sometimes used preventatively to give extra support to vulnerable body parts, particularly wrists and fingers, where injury may have occurred in the past.
Compression Strapping & Elastic Adhesive Bandages
The stretch nature of these strappings allow compression to be applied to specific areas, reducing swelling whilst encouraging increased circulation to the injury to allow the body to naturally repair itself as efficiently as possible. Stretch taping allows for additional support, whilst allowing greater range of movement then when using non-stretch zinc oxide tape.
Kinesiology Taping
The Kinesiology taping is a definitive rehabilitative taping technique that is designed to facilitate the body’s natural healing process while providing support and stability to muscles and joints without restricting the body’s range of motion as well as providing extended soft tissue manipulation to prolong the benefits of manual therapy administered within the clinical setting. It is widely used by physiotherapists and sports massage therapists when treating injuries for professional sports men and women. It is also a useful tool for correcting postural imbalance and the associated pain.
What are the Benefits of Kinesiology Taping?
Kinesiology tape has a comprehensive array of therapeutic benefits. Because it can be left on for up to a week, these therapeutic benefits are available to the injured area 24 hours a day, significantly accelerating the healing process from trauma, injuries and inflammatory conditions.
1. Pain Relief
Kinesiology tape has a comprehensive array of therapeutic benefits. Because it can be left on for up to a week, these therapeutic benefits are available to the injured area 24 hours a day, significantly accelerating the healing process from trauma, injuries and inflammatory conditions.
1. Pain Relief
- Kinesiology taping relieves pain through different mechanism. These could be grouped as either physical or neurological mechanisms.
- Physically, the lifting action of the kinesiology tape relieves pressure on pain receptors directly under the skin, allowing for both immediate and lasting relief.
- Chronic pain can be improved via the sensory stimulation of other types of nerve fibres. In thse circumstance, kinesiology tape may be effective for pain that persists after an injury has healed or for pain that is above and beyond the injury severity.
- By lifting this skin, kinesiology taping provides a negative pressure under the tape, which allows the lymphatic drainage channels to drain swelling and other inflammatory cells away from the injured area quickly.
- Based on the same physical lifting principle, kinesiology taping can be very effective in the reduction of lymphoedema.
- Exercise and repeated muscle contractions produces post-exercise byproducts such as lactic acid. Lactic acid can cause poor muscle performance, fatigue cramping and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
- Kinesiology tape can help remove lactic acid and other exercise byproducts from the region, which can assist muscle performance, reduce fatigue, cramps and DOMS.
- Kinesiology tape provides both a physical and neurological support for your dynamic structures such as muscles
- Kinesiology tapes unique elasticity provides passive support to weak or injured muscles. This can assist everyday activities, high level sport or even low tone children.
- By supporting weak or painful structures, kinesiology tape ultimately allows injured athletes, workers and weekend warriors to return to sport, work or play quicker that without kinesiology tape's unique dynamic support.
© Dawn Hodge 2023