Protecting muscles the kinesiology tape way

|     Mimi Phb     |

TWENTY-THREE officers, coaches and teachers attended a kinesiology tape workshop at the Sport Medical and Research Centre in Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium yesterday.

Kinesiology tape … innovative device and technique to protect and treat muscles. – PHOTO: MIMI PHB

Kinesiology is an innovative device and technique used to protect and treat muscles, tendons and joints of professional and recreational athletes globally as the tape helps to keep the muscles moving, improve circulation, reduce pain and speed healing.

Founder of the kinesiology taping, Dr Kenzo Kase has developed the muscle treatment with a design of a skin-thin, elastic and stretchable and the correct taping method was to gently lift the layer of skin and attached the tape on the muscle so that the blood and other body fluids can move more freely around the particular muscle.

Athletes or others with muscle injuries usually feel uncomfortable when using traditional tape as the tape delayed the circulation and slow down the healing process and thus they has to remove it after performing the activities.

When athletes used kinesiology tape, the skin and connective tissue over the muscle or tendon also move along the tape, pulling slightly from the muscle and creating space for fluid to flow around and cleanse the inflamed tissue, and thus it can be used for four to five days.

The advantages of athletes using the kinesio tape are to reduce swelling and pain, avoiding cramps and spasms, speeding the healing process for overused muscle, to support the injured muscle and joint without movement disturbance, increases the muscle strength for newly healed athletes as well as athletes can perform their activities during injuries.

During the workshop, the instructor of the kinesiology tape, Yvetter JM Kortekaas exposed her knowledge about basic anatomy among the participants and showed the correct way in using the tape to avoid injuries for the athletes and others and also explained the differences between the athlete tape and medical tape.

The participants were also given an opportunity to practise among the injured athletes with the guidance of the instructor and understand their mistakes when practising the tape.

Yvetter hoped that the participants can get better training with the help of videos and social network – Youtubes and also approached her for more understanding in the correct way of using the kinesiology tape.