I am often asked what the difference between Rigid Strapping tape and Kinesiology Tape is, and which you should use depending on need. As a general rule of thumb, rigid strapping tape is used to give support to a joint and this is what you generally see on athletes involved in contact sports such as: AFL, rugby league, rugby union, baseball, netball and other active sports. Primarily used on the major joints of the body – shoulders, knees and ankles – it gives added stability and helps reduce the chances of injury and provides increased support when returning to competition after an injury. In fact, in some professional sports it is a requirement of their insurance underwriters that if the athlete is not strapped or wearing some form of approved support they may not be covered if an injury does occur.
Kinesiology tape (Like brands such as Rock Tape, Kinesio Tape, and KT Tape etc) is the more colourful tape you will see on track athletes, tennis players and footballers. This tape is used in the rehabilitation/recovery phase of an injury to help with pain reduction, as well as helping ease and reduce inflammation. It is claimed that this type of tape helps to increase the flow of fluids through the various tissue layers by decompressing the area of application. This decompression also has the effect of altering the signals that our pain receptors are sending to the brain, and with a decrease in perceived pain levels – our recovery time is reduced greatly!
Although the research into the beneficial effects of Kenisio Tape is limited at this time and more needs to be done, anecdotally, what we see clinically is a decrease in the perceived pain levels of clients. It has been shown that when our pain levels are decreased the repair to damaged tissues is sped up and therefore a faster return to our preferred sports and activities. It is also used in the re-training of muscles that may be firing incorrectly or have forgotten how to switch on. This is very common with those suffering from low back pain or hip issues. If you would like to read more on this click here
As with all types of treatment protocols, there are very specific techniques in taping, both with rigid tape and Kinesio tape, so if you would like us to show you how to add support to a joint or how to use Kinesio tape for your specific issue, call us NOW.
