I have posterior tibial tendonitis (aka inner ankle issues) and as a result of my weakened left ankle have developed problems in my right knee (IT band). I am seeing a sports med doc and he told me it is okay to continue to swim/bike/run as long as I recover and the pain isn’t too great.
On my own I picked up some kinesio tape, the Tex Gold kind. This type is supposed to be water resistant. I have a HIM this weekend and I was thinking of wearing it for the race (breaking the nothing new on race day rule, but desperate times…). This is not my “A” race this year, I am gearing up for the full at Cedar Pt, but still, I’d like to have the best day out there that I can.
Any experience with the tape? Does it work to alleviate symptoms? Have you raced with it?
Honestly, I’ve only ever used it when put on by my ART guy for a calf problem I was having, and then my PT when I separated my shoulder - it mimiced the torn ligament and helped hold my shoulder up. The PT taught me how and where to apply it. Not sure it’s going to work very well if you don’t have someone advising you on how to use it for a specific injury. Did not race with it, but swam with it a bunch.
I have used it twice in races. Once for hamstring injury and another for a calf strain. The stuff works and it will not bother you during the race.
Good luck this weekend!
use an adhesive spray like 3M on your skin and it will stay on a lot longer, even the brands that say they stay on 3-5 days etc, stay on better with the spray first.
I used Rocktape for an achilles injury…absolutely worked with that injury, very easy to apply (watched several online videos on how to). Sounds crazy but pain/discomfort disappeared the very next run. Highly recommended for achilles problems. I wore it on my achilles for the last sprint I did.
Also used it for several bouts of medial tibial stress syndrome (shin splints on the inside of the leg)…same thing, watched some how to vids, it was much more complicated to tape for that type of injury, did my best but couldn’t tell one bit of difference, felt like it didn’t do a thing to help.
So…50/50 for me, but it probably comes down to proper application.
You were told you could run with PT tendonitis if the pain wasn’t too great? Hmmm …
Anyway, a high dye type ankle strapping does work very well for the PT tendon (esp since this type of taping work best to “activate” proprioception, rather than actual mechanical support). I’d get just a roll or 2 of the good stuff (i.e. Spider, etc.), but day to day, a good cloth, porous sports tape works fine and is FAR less expensive (just apply with a pre-tape spray first).
I’ve used kinesio tape on my self and others and been pleased with what I’ve seen.
As previously mentioned-consider using some additional adhesive spray along with the tape to insure it makes through all 3 aspects of your race.
Apply no later than 30 minutes prior to your race
AND cut the tape so that you have rounded edges on the ends
I’m seeing a good sports med doc so I feel pretty confident in his advice. He said to keep the pain while running at a minimum. For me this means eliminating all hills, since both up and down hurt. Given that I live in SW PA this was no easy feat. Luckily my HIM has a flat run and Cedar Pt is flat too, so that helps. Just had an MRI tonight to see what’s going on in there.
Thanks to all for the tape advice.
The 3M adhesive spray, is this the stuff you find at like Office Depot?
Only if you know what area to tape and how to tape it correctly. It does stay put though. If taping is correct, it works really good for muscle strains. Joint sprains, not so much. Works also well for muscle spasms. If you know the origins and insertions of the IT band correctly and the stretching positions, and the tape is applied correctly, it will help you with your issues.
The 3M adhesive spray, is this the stuff you find at like Office Depot?
I would look for an adhesive spray specifically designated for skin application and medical/athletic tape application. They do exist-you just might pay a bit more for it vs the 3M spray. I personally don’t know if the skin spray is any different from the 3M
The fact of the matter is KT or any of the other brands should be applied by a professional (Note: my other half is Kinesio certified).
There is no “made to size” form nor pre-fit ability at all in any of the brands. If you want to get a benefit from it - you NEED to get it applied by someone certified with a degree such as and MD, PT, OT, Chiro or someone who can figure out where your muscles and nerves really are and apply properly from there…the rest are all just marketing scams.
I have posterior tibial tendonitis (aka inner ankle issues) and as a result of my weakened left ankle have developed problems in my right knee (IT band). I am seeing a sports med doc and he told me it is okay to continue to swim/bike/run as long as I recover and the pain isn’t too great.
On my own I picked up some kinesio tape, the Tex Gold kind. This type is supposed to be water resistant. I have a HIM this weekend and I was thinking of wearing it for the race (breaking the nothing new on race day rule, but desperate times…). This is not my “A” race this year, I am gearing up for the full at Cedar Pt, but still, I’d like to have the best day out there that I can.
Any experience with the tape? Does it work to alleviate symptoms? Have you raced with it?
I’ve been using the Spidertech stuff - which is great because it’s precut for various joints, which is more helpful for things like knee or shoulder than for ankle - and I’ve found that it does “help,” which I put in quotes because I don’t really and truly understand why/how. But for sure, I felt a lot less pain in my knee, my knee “clicked” less, and I felt like I had better stability in my knee when I was doing my rehab. I found it lasts well even with swimming/showers; SpiderTech uses Nitto-Denko tape.
It’s sort of one of those things where I think it’s safe to try on race day because either it will help or it will do nothing. But I don’t know of any way it can hurt.
Are you thinking of taping knee or ankle? Or both?
i’ve used the same brand as an ad hoc arch-strap to help with some PF … it works well and has stayed on through a swim workout. if applied so that the tape wraps all the way around whatever it is you’re applying it to, cut a slit in the end to make a “Y” and tuck the split pieces under the the wrapped portion so that adhesive is meeting adhesive, this pretty much will mean that it will stay on until you take it off.
The fact of the matter is KT or any of the other brands should be applied by a professional (Note: my other half is Kinesio certified).
There is no “made to size” form nor pre-fit ability at all in any of the brands. If you want to get a benefit from it - you NEED to get it applied by someone certified with a degree such as and MD, PT, OT, Chiro or someone who can figure out where your muscles and nerves really are and apply properly from there…the rest are all just marketing scams.
While I agree with you initially, don’t you think its a little extreme to have them do it the second time.
I’m getting kt for a chronic achilles issue next week, a certified chiro will be putting it on. I’m hoping it works as well as everyone claims.
I had my husband watch some YouTube videos and do the taping. He’s an artist and is excellent at recreating what he sees. I know this is different from having a certified professional do it. I may see if I can find a pro to do it at some point so I can tell if there is a difference.
We applied it last night and so far I think it is helping.
what is more effective for treating minor nagging pain injuries:
kinesio tape, acupuncture, chiropractic, or those ultrasound wands?
it would depend on what the cause of the minor nagging pain is. But I have a very sneaking suspicion you are asking this in an attempt to be “clever” and try and paint them all as some sort of snake oil, which they are not. They are all effective treatments that have all - all (with perhaps the exception of kinesio tape, as I couldn’t find a single controlled study on using just k-tape) - been shown to be effective in controlled studies. They are not bad therapies. They CAN BE effective. What is bad is when you have a snake-oil salesman type of practitioner who tells you they can fix everything.
I can think of particular instances where each one of the therapies you’ve mentioned has been effective, but where none of the others would have been.
I had a morton’s neuroma. I got the traditional cortisone shot. Didn’t help at all. ONE acupuncture treatment fixed it.
After I crashed, my hips were way out of whack. Running into something will do that. I had a ton of pain trying to run. Having my hips adjusted didn’t instantly cure me (since i’d run with my hips out of whack for way to long by that point and had aggravated my knee), but I actually was able to start properly rehabbing and building back up to running normally, since my pevlis wasn’t skewed.
ultrasound is pretty basic - it’s just ultrasonic soundwaves. Most recently it helped me a great deal when, because of damage to my brachial plexus, I used one of the muscles in my forearm to bend my arm. It has a relatively poor mechanical advantage for this, so it got REALLY sore. The ultrasound helped to relax and made some deep tissue massage actually tolerable. Acupuncture probably would have worked reasonably well here as well, though.
I’ve only ever had my first experience with kinesio tape as I’ve been rehabbing my knee. I put the tape on, my knee hurts less - generally, not at all - compared to when I would run or do rehab without it.
In each case, each measure can be effective if you actually go to see someone has a clue WTF they are doing. Granted, that number is far fewer than the number of practitioners out there. But keep in mind, when you get out the “shoot alternative therapies full of holes” gun, that the #3 cause of death in hospitals is from iatrogenic causes.