You may have noticed a multitude of olympic athletes across all competitions sporting a fancy looking, multi-colored tape. Kinesiotape is a special tape used support, relax, or stimulate a specific body part. You’d be surprised to find that health care professionals achieve levels of certification in being able to use Kinesiotape for certain musculoskeletal problems. Mary Margaret Crowson, PT, DPT of GT Physical Therapy is certified in Kinesiotape application and has had great success with it. Conditions such as shoulder pain, low back pain, neck pain, thoracic pain, elbow problems, knee pain, and swelling in joints or other areas all respond very well and fairly immediate to Kinesiotape when applied properly. Dr. Crowson will use it to achieve a specific function depending on the problem being treated. It’s not a simple process by any means, but the desired outcome is very simple – Increase function and decrease pain.

Kinesiotape does not improve the ability of an unaffected body part so it’s not a performance enhancer. However, if you have a body part that is bothering you, Kinesiotape can provide immediate relief and motion improvement (if there’s a deficit).

In July, the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy published a study of 42 people with shoulder injuries. Half of them were treated with Kinesio tape applied in a pattern designed to support the injured muscle. The other half were given a “sham” treatment in which two strips of tape were simply pressed across the arm. The study was conducted by physical therapists at Winn Army Community Hospital in Fort Stewart, Ga., who didn’t receive funding from the tape company. Notably, the study participants who received the real therapeutic tape treatment reported an immediate improvement in pain.

Call us to see if Kinesiotape can help you move better and feel better! 662-773-3700. To see how it can be used in a simple fashion to correct knee pain, check out Immediate Knee Pain Relief with Kinesiotape