Sprains, strains, blunt trauma, and overtraining in the gym or on the field all cause tissue damage. When applied immediately after injury, kinesiology tape is a great tool to limit the detrimental effects on tissue. The secret to kinesiology tape’s effectiveness stems from the elastic properties within the cotton-elastic fabric. The small elastic bands in the fabric retract toward the middle of the tape, creating a force that pulls upward on the skin and lifts the tissue under the tape. In this article, we will look at how applying kinesiology tape immediately after an injury gets you back on your feet by improving fluid drainage, preventing scar tissue formation, decreasing pain, and restoring movement quality after an injury.
Selecting The Right Tape For The Job
As soon as an injury occurs or overtraining concludes, I use the SpiderTech Fan precut tape over the affected area. I find the thin strips create a big skin lift, and it works perfectly since my first objective is to decongest the affected tissue. I use this tape application until bruising and swelling are visibly and palpably gone. Once bruising and swelling have disappeared, I apply SpiderTech body-part-specific precut tape over the affected area with the goal of restoring normal function. I wifi use tape applications until the area is pain-free, fluid-free, and range of motion and muscle function have been restored.
Before applying the tape, ensure the patient’s skin is washed, shaven, dry, and unbroken. Stretch the muscle under the application area and apply the tape with no stretch. Once the muscle is taken out of the stretch position, you should immediately see the skin elevate under the tape.
1 Improves Fluid Drainage
Improving fluid drainage (inflammation, edema, blood flow, and lymphatic fluid) after tissue trauma has shown to be a lynchpin for better healing in both human and animal models. In healthy subjects without injury, applying kinesiology tape has shown to elevate the skin to increase the width of interstitial tissue space by approximately 5%'. When edema and inflammation congest the tissue after an injury, kinesiology tape has been shown to widen the interstitial space by 300%2. By reestablishing normal fluid flow after an injury, we can decrease tissue pressure, prevent fluid pooling, and shrink the width of the swollen area. This decongestion has benefits in terms of pain reduction, scar tissue formation, and getting you moving again. It has also been shown that the longer you wear tape over the injured area, the greater the benefit because the interstitial space widens with continual use4.
2 Scar Tissue Prevention
Decongesting injured tissue with kinesiology tape as soon as trauma occurs has shown to limit scar tissue formation by downregulating the natural tissue breakdown process and thus decreasing the necessity of scar tissue formation2. Kafa et al. showed that kinesiology tape helped preserve the integrity of the dermis, alignment of collagen fibers, and increased the epidermal-dermal distance in the kinesiology tape group compared to the control group after just 30 minutes of use. This distance was even greater upon reevaluation after six hours of tape use. They concluded that kinesiology tape application after soft tissue trauma reduces inflammation, provides structural protection for connective tissue, and helps with the reconstruction of damaged tissue after injury2.
3 Decreases Pain
Applying kinesiology tape as soon as an injury occurs can have a huge impact on pain intensity and duration. Nerve growth factor (NGF) is one of many proteins secreted after tissue injury and is known to cause hyperalgesia, sensitize cutaneous nociceptors, and is directly related to the feeling of inflammatory pain. In this situation, kinesiology tape plays a key role in decreasing pain perception by lowering NGF levels2, while also decreasing tissue pressure and providing mechanoreceptor stimulation to modulate ascending nociceptive sensation and take advantage of sensory gating3.
4 Regaining Movement Quality
Every patient walking into our office cares about regaining and optimizing performance. Whether they use their body to earn a living, compete with their friends on the weekend, or simply want to play with their grandkids more often, an injury or overworked muscles causing pain, diminished balance, and poor coordination will affect anyone’s quality of life. Kirmizigil et al. evaluated kinesiology tape’s effect on delayed-onset muscle soreness. They concluded that kinesiology tape induced skin surface, dermis, and epidermis changes that corrected the adverse effects of fatigue on balance and the proprioceptive system3. They theorized that the therapeutic effects are caused by a combination of effective inflammation and metabolite elimination with increasing blood flow to the tissue and continuous mechanoreceptor stimulation. As a patient’s body recovers from an acute injury or overtraining, applying kinesiology tape to promote blood flow and a greater oxygen supply while allowing inflammation and metabolites to drain from the area can have a huge impact on prognosis and has become standard practice in my clinic.
Nick Martichenko, DC is the Director of Education for SpiderTech kinesiology tape in Toronto, Canada, leads Golf Ontario's Medical Team, member of Denis Shapovalov's Performance Team, member of Tennis Canada's Medical Team and a proud alumni of Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, 2009. Contact Nick at [email protected].
References
1. Guy, A. J. & Papadopoulos, K. (2020). The impact of kinesiology tape application on the volume of interstitial space over the gastrocnemius within healthy mixed-gender participants using ultrasonography. Trends in Medicine, 20(2), 1-5. https: doi. org/10.15 761 iim. 1000224
2. Kafa, N., Citaker, S., Omeroglu, S., Peker, T., Coskun, N., & Diker, S. (2015). Effects of kinesiologic taping on epidermal-dermal distance, pain, edema and inflammation after experimentally induced soft tissue trauma. Physiotherapy theory and practice, 31(8), 556 561. https://doi.org/10.3109/095939...
3. Kirmizigil, B., ('hauchat. J. R., Yalciner, O., Iyigun, G., Angin, E., & Baltaci, G. (2019). The Effectiveness of kinesio taping in recovering from delayed onset muscle soreness: a crossover study. Journal of sport rehabilitation, 29(4), 385-393. https: doi. org/10.1123/jsr.2018-0389
4. Kim, J., Kim, S., & Lee, J. (2016). Longer application of kinesio taping would be beneficial for exercise-induced muscle damage. Journal of exercise rehabilitation, 12(5), 456-462. https: doi. org/10.12965jer. 1632 702.351
