Taping from the land down under!

A few weeks ago I was asked to help at my dojo with some renovation, the job was to tape off the dojo in preparation for painting. So I found myself after training with my sword, on my hands and knees applying masking tape in the dojo. I seem to spend half my life with tape in my hands and I thought I’d explain my fascination with tape.

When I was training to become a massage therapist taping was just mentioned in passing as another therapeutic modality. Years later when I was teaching the sports massage course I found myself embarrassed by my lack of knowledge on the subject, I just knew that physical therapists used tape and we didn’t. So I found a course I liked and traveled down to London for the 3 day course. The course was run by PhysioUK and though not physiotherapists Corina and I were allowed to attend. This course, Functional Fascial Taping® (FFT) with Ron Alexander, an Australian, changed by professional life more than almost any other.

I thought I was just going to another CPD seminar, you learn a few things and do some networking… mistake. The aim of Functional Fascial Taping® (FFT) is to decrease pain and increase range of motion, using nothing other than normal sports tape! Sounds too good to be true right? We thought so, and so did just about everyone else on the course. Ron asked for a volunteer and up stepped a physiotherapist with an arm that hurt when she lifted heavy objects, this lady was as skeptical as we were and over the next 15minutes Ron taped her in such a way that she had no pain, increased range of motion and more strength. Anecdotal evidence is of little use to hard nosed physiotherapists and some of the audience didn’t believe their eyes.

Ron Alexander was then able to produce real-time ultrasound imaging showing exactly how and why the tape worked. From that moment I was hooked. Not only did FFT work, it could be used with acute injuries, you can apply it to all sorts of injuries and the guy that invented the system was just like us; a soft-tissue therapist, not a physical therapist or an MD, just a guy with good hands and a detailed understanding of how the body works.

Years later I use tape all the time. I have added Kinesio Taping to my repertoire and often use it in conjunction with the FFT and more traditional taping methods.

Tape allows me to treat clients in a way that encourages activity, I can tape in a way that allows athletes to continue to exercise. I can use tape to help reduce pain without using drugs, I can give them more motion and get them to function better.

I often say that if a product sounds too good to be true it probably is, but if it were true I would use it all the time. Functional Fascial Taping® works and I use it all the time!

I love tape, it is effective, it relies on an understanding of functional anatomy, it is part science, part art and part experience.

Alan