Kinesiology Tape - gimmick or useful?

walkingbootweather

I have seen a number of the Euro 2012 footballers wearing this stuff. Does it serve any useful purpose or is it just a fashion statement?

Ben6899

walkingbootweather wrote:

I have seen a number of the Euro 2012 footballers wearing this stuff. Does it serve any useful purpose or is it just a fashion statement?

It works. Placed correctly, i.e. by the team physio or doctor and not by the ignorant centre-forward himself, it can isolate muscles from being used.

walkingbootweather

Ben6899 wrote:

it can isolate muscles from being used.

I guess Wayne Rooney must have been covered head to toe in the stuff then?

NGale

I've found it's worked wonders for my shin splints. But yes you do need someone else to place it which is a bit of a pain but necessary for it to work right

walkingbootweather

Did Robbie Fowler have a particularly muscular nose?

mrc1

My physio used some post shoulder surgery when I was still having problems and it seemed to help a bit. Worst bit was peeling the stuff off though - it took the top few layers of skin off which then oozed blood for the rest of the day.

Probably best not to use it if you play rugby or another contact sport as its just one big advert to "HURT ME HERE"

rick_chasey

walkingbootweather wrote:

Did Robbie Fowler have a particularly muscular nose?

Got worked out a lot.

First.Aspect

Gimmick.

Athletic tape - not elastic, used to tape across top of tendons to treat tendinitis. Moderately useful. I watched (on the teevee) Rafa Nadal get some brutal massage followed with masses of this stuff on his knees a couple of French opens ago. Have tried it myself.

Knisesiology tape - stretchy stuff. Supposed to be applied in tension to lift tissues away from muscle and free up movement. Useless in my experience. Unless you are an Addidas sponsored Italian footballer who has just scored a cracker in the semi final, of course.

daviesee

May as well use scientology IMHO.

Strikes me as a gimmic.

But what do I know?

FeynmanC

I bought some on LEJOG when patella tendonitis flared up, after nursing ITB pain on the other knee.

The one that I applied did nothing to help and i fought through increasing pain to the end of the day, but the sports massage guys that applied some in the evening cut it into their own shapes, applied to both legs and I was able to ride the next 700 miles with much less pain in both knees. Without it one morning I could barely walk!

I'm a convert, as long as it's applied right by people that know what they are doing.

graham.

Is that the stuff the physio put aroud my broken finger to reduce the swelling I wonder? Lovely stuff!

gtvlusso

My wife had this stuff for a knee injury. She felt that it was more of a placebo than actual affect, it would pull and remind her not to do whatever she was doing to cause it to pull.....

walkingbootweather

I see that the BBC have joined the debate.

I do like the conspiracy theory that Barotelli has just used the tape for advertising in a secret sponsorship deal with Adidas, getting away with it while Nicklas Bendtner was caught with his Paddy Power pants down and got a big smack on his bottom.