Santa left me some KT tape in my stocking. Does it really help? I have a tendency to strain calves while running so was thinking of using the tape while training. Do you use it after an injury or can it be used as a preventive measure as well?
Thanks.
In my use…yes.
Why - no idea. Chiro uses it and calls it voodoo tape.
Mostly use it after injury but sometimes preventative. I get calf problems too…
Brent
My PT in the Army had me using it round the clock for my achilles injury a few years back…He told me to keep it on because it would add support to the tendon and keep it stretched…is it true? have no idea but it did help, unless I was just convincing myself that it was working because i had it on…I think the key is to have a Chiro or PT show you how to use it if they are belivers in the stuff. Its all about when to stretch and apply the tape, how to flex the ankle flexed in my case etc…You don’t just put it on and hope your troubled spots will no longer be tender…good thing is I have a boxes of the uncut rolls in the event I go back to needing it best of luck with it…and if its a calve issue…a good foam rolling or massage stick session on it will do wonders. best of luck with it…Santa always comes through!
Yes it absolutely does work. However, KT tape does not stick well, at all…I found Rock Tape is like super glue.
Its not designed to be supportive at all, nor preventative, any athletic tape is a poor preventative measure, in an exercise training class in college we were taught that the ankle tape put on in football games is basically useless after 15 minutes.
My understanding is that it manipulates the skin to allow better blood flow or something like that. My personal opinion? Its does nothing more than care and massage can do for an injury. I think people just like to wear it like a badge of honor “I push myself and get injured, what are you doing with your life?”
Used some when I had achilles problems, didn’t do a lot for me but that’s because the problem was caused by some plonker ordering neutral shoes when they had always run with pronation support.
If you are using it on your calves and have hairy man legs you will want to get the clippers out.
IMHO, it works good for tendon issues and not so much for muscle issues. I’ve used it for patellar tendon problems and now posterior tibial tendon issues and it’s helped delay the onset of pain by additional miles during training.
I have been dealing with IT band issues on and off for a couple years due to my knee cap tracking toward the outside of my knee. I always run with a chopat brace and race with Rocktape. I have yet to have any issues with the knee during a race using the tape. I found that the Rocktape sticks a lot better than the KT tape, I just got some of the new H20 stuff and its supposed to stick even better.
Anecdotally, most of the time it works. What you see at the olympics is overkill and does not provide any sort of benefit. All of those modalities should be used at tools and not crutches. K tape is meant to improve or restore quality of motion and in turn reduce poor movements or lack of firing of a muscle or at a joint. So in theory if coupled with a proper strengthening routine: You can reduce the symptoms (pain due to poor motion or injured soft tissue) and at the same time strengthen appropriately with proper motion and eventually not need the tape.
Does it “work?” There is no evidence, just anecdotal. I’m a fan of “if it helps a little and makes you feel better then why not do it” as long as your intention is to fix the aggravating factor along the way. If you just treat symptoms and not the cause…youre doomed.
Vodoo, IMO.
I have tried it for Achilles and IT issues and never seen any relief / improvement. Been taped by PT’s, chiros and people from KT themselves.
No one has ever been able to explain to me how KT (or SpiderTech / Rocktape / pick your brand) works. I’ve heard answers ranging from “it helps separate layers of tissues” to “it is like another layer of skin” to “it’s like rubbing the spot where you get punched with your hand”.
That said, I still keep trying it, hoping it will work.
Placebo effect. Nothing more. No credible research that I am aware of can show it is actually beneficial.
I would be absolutely stunned if it was anything but placebo effect.
Some smart people disagree with me though.
Take a step back and remember that you are putting tape, on your skin, and expecting that to do something to the muscles, joints, ligaments, tendons, scar tissue, or whatever underneath. Does that make any sense?
No it really does not make any sense, you have to appeal to some unknown subtle effects with nerve endings in the skin and how that affects blood flow or something else not clearly known and then something something healing!
Not impossible, but there is a long history of plausible sounding ideas that aren’t really true.
But of course the reason so many of those ideas stick around (Acupuncture, sonar wands, ‘lasers’, massage, ART, on and on) is because nobody really has any real cures for the typical soft tissue injuries or joint issues, so the speculative stuff is there, and people want answers.
“rest then walk it off” for some reason doesn’t appeal to anyone as an answer.
it is free though.
I was at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting and heard a presenter who said he knew about KT, and what it was supposed to do, but that he didn’t think it would accomplish that. He was leaning towards no. I have a friend who is a chiropractor who swears by it. I saw the US Women Beach VB gold medalists using it, but there are also pro athletes who used magnetic bracelets. My personal opinion is leaning towards no, myself.
Athletic tape has been around forever. I can easily see it helping with a very specific injust, something like runners knee, where the tape can help keep the knee tracking properly. I thing the big explosion in its use by ordinary athletes self applying it has a lot to do with it coming in bright colors.
I wonder what the correlation is between IM tats, 140.6 stickers and wearing athletic tape on your calf in the supermarket?
The past 2-3 weeks I’ve had IT Band issues trying to slowly increase run mileage. I got some KT Gold Tape and used a youtube video for the pattern. It doesn’t stick all too well, especially after a few showers. However, after a week of use I’m a believer. Don’t know how it works, but for whatever reason my IT band has been tame.
hmm…lot’s of varying opinions and I tend to agree about the placebo effect as well. I had one of those power balance bracelets a few years ago. Can’t explain the balance test done on me at the carnival but it did ‘something’. So I purchased it as I had an upcoming triathlon…my first. Race day was 99degrees with about 200% humidity. I just about died…wore the band though. Not really sure the band did anything…but maybe it’s a magnet for crappy weather.
Anyway, I have the KT Pro tape (I guess Santa thought I was extra good this year) so I guess I’ll just give it a try a see how goes.
Thanks,
I’ve used KT tape on and off for about 3-4 years and have found that it helps me with ankle, knee, and calf soreness especially after big races. Never used them during a race or on any part of my body so not sure of its efficacy more broadly.
You can in fact explain the balance test done on you at the carnival, with like 20 seconds of google and 10 minutes of reading.
hmm…lot’s of varying opinions and I tend to agree about the placebo effect as well. I had one of those power balance bracelets a few years ago. Can’t explain the balance test done on me at the carnival but it did ‘something’. So I purchased it as I had an upcoming triathlon…my first. Race day was 99degrees with about 200% humidity. I just about died…wore the band though. Not really sure the band did anything…but maybe it’s a magnet for crappy weather.
Anyway, I have the KT Pro tape (I guess Santa thought I was extra good this year) so I guess I’ll just give it a try a see how goes.
Thanks,
Kinesio tape CAN help with a lot of things. That said, it’s not a cure-all and there are absolutely certain things that it does not help with. I tried to give some good answers here: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=3010391;search_string=spider%20tech;#3010391
The question you need to really answer is, “WHY do you have a tendency to strain your calves?”
Once you answer that, then you can start to evaluate whether or not the tape can help. It’s also important to realize that a lot of people put very little thought into how to use it effectively, mostly because they don’t think about what the tape is going to do.
E.g., your calf hurts so you throw a strip of tape onto your calf. Is that going to help? Almost certainly not.
E.g., your calf hurts and you realize that it’s because you lack appropriate dorsiflexion, meaning that your calfs are overworking eccentrically to control ROM on supination. You can use the tape on the peroneals to help offer some proprioceptive feedback to your peroneals/ant-tib, which MIGHT help with dorsiflexion (depending on why, exactly, your dorsiflexion is limited), which could alleviate some of the pain in your calves.
So…
If you think sticking some tape on an area that hurts is magically going to fix things, then no, it will not help. However, you can use the tape in useful and productive ways for certain injuries, ROM issues, etc.
Most of the folks that tell you it doesn’t do anything have probably not used it. And, in my experience, most people who have tried it have, unfortunately, not used it correctly. In my experience, the feedback from people who have been instructed correctly in terms of what it can do and WHY is almost universally positive. That’s certainly been my experience.
EDIT: as a quick postscript, there is a huge variance in quality. A good application - do not touch the glue side - should last at least 3-5 days on a high ROM joint (knee), even with swimming and showering daily. Well, at least swimming daily. Showering is overrated… It’ll last longer on low ROM joints (low back). The worst joint is the ankle, especially when swimming. That tends to be really, really hard to make work. Some Cramer TuffSkin can help. I can’t speak to KT tape, but SpiderTech tape definitely lasts. And I’ve heard the same of RockTape.
I was at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting and heard a presenter who said he knew about KT, and what it was supposed to do, but that he didn’t think it would accomplish that. He was leaning towards no. I have a friend who is a chiropractor who swears by it. I saw the US Women Beach VB gold medalists using it, but there are also pro athletes who used magnetic bracelets. My personal opinion is leaning towards no, myself.
The women’s VB players are good example of correct usage by a professional. Kevin Jardine - who created Spider Tech (who sponsors me now, after I used their tape in my comeback after my accident) - is the one who diagnosed and instructed the players in the use of the tape. That’s definitely not a case of “pay me some money, and I’ll put on the tape.”