If you have been watching the Olympics these past two weeks you may have noticed athletes wearing colored tape on various parts of their bodies. This tape is not a fashion statement. Athletes have started wearing it to help their performance by controlling the function of their muscles.
Kinesiology tape, or kinesio tape as it is more commonly known, is a flexible, cloth-like tape, which is applied to achy muscles to relieve pain or help muscles function properly. The tape, when placed in the right direction, will help exert force on the injured muscle so that the group of muscles are more synchronized.
In an article on Today Health, Dr. David Geier an orthopedic surgeon at the Medical University of South Carolina, said if there is structural damage kinesio tape is not going to be effective. That strains and aches may be assisted by kinesio tape, but the injuries probably won’t go away.
And this is the debate that has formed over kinesio tape. Does it really work? There have been no medical studies to prove that it works, but it athletes are flocking to the tape in numbers, touting its capabilities. Psychologically, if an athlete believe it works, that may be enough to give that athlete the competitive edge.
What do you think of kinesio tape? Is it medically helping athletes? Or is the treatment psychological? Leave us your comments below and let us know what you think.
image credit: mikep on flickr
Tagged → Athletes, Cloth Tape, Dr. David Geier, Kinesio Tape, Kinesiology, Kinesiology Tape, Medical Treament, Medical University of South Carolina, Olympics, Sprain, Strain, Today Show
