I saw
this article last week when I was reading up on some of the final Olympics coverage, and it piqued my curiosity. Kinesio tape is used fairly often in the clinic, although not by me personally. I was definitely curious to read what was being written about it after seeing it all over the Olympic athletes earlier this month.
It seemed it was on athletes in all different sports. Could this be something I should be incorporating more into my practice? I have never had much success with using it. Instead, I often use tape if I want to provide a patient with increased support. Kinesio tape is very stretchy (which is why you can do all those cool patterns), and therefore it is not as good for support.
I think Kinesio tape probably does provide a little neuromuscular feedback to athletes without being too restrictive, which is probably why they like to use it. Or, perhaps it's just that they like the way it looks and want to make it part of their uniform. Honestly, with some of the taping patterns I saw, I couldn't see how it would benefit them in the ways I know the tape to be helpful.
I suppose Kinesio tape is just another tool we have to offer patients, and for some, it may be just the thing to get them feeling like an Olympic athlete.
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