Mummy, mummy can I have some tape?

Our new tag line on our website and business cards is “fine-tuning your body using exercise, bodywork and tape.”. Most people know about exercise and bodywork is a catch all term for our various massage services but TAPE? The question that we get asked most is what is tape? So here we go…

We use tape to reduce pain and increase range of motion. 

Traditional taping methods, that we still practice when necessary, rely on using the properties of the tape to restrict movement and prevent injury or reduce further injury. The taping methods that we prefer to use and use daily use the properties of the tape to change the way in which the connective tissue works, giving the results of reduced pain and increased range of motion.

We use two main taping methods, Functional Fascial Taping (FFT) and Kinesio Taping. The main difference between the two taping methods is the type of tape that is used, FFT uses regular athletic tape and Kinesio uses tape specially designed for the Kinesio Taping Method.

Functional Facial Taping

This method was developed by a massage therapist in Australia. It uses normal athletic tape applied in a special way to change the tension of the fascia in the body which can improve flexibility of tissue, increase range of motion and reduce pain. It is effective on a whole range of muscular and fascial injuries, as well as being able to help with nerve tension. The single most amazing thing we have found with this tape is how good it is at treating Plantar Fasciitis. Anyone who has had this foot condition knows how difficult it can be to treat. We have had such great success treating it with Functional Fascial Taping that many clients get full resolution in just a single treatment! 

Kinesio Tape

Kinesio Tape was developed in Japan to initially treat swelling or edema. The tape has special elastic properties that allow it to be applied in a variety of ways to help with swelling, bruising, muscle tightness and pain, muscle weakness, fascial tension, joint problems and scar tissue. Due to the wide variety of uses you need a qualified practitioner to apply the tape to ensure it is in the right place, in the right direction and at the right tension to give the desired effect. The original tape comes in four colors: black, blue, pink and beige. They are all the same, it is simply a matter of preference which one the client likes. The tape is stretchy, making it comfortable to wear, and waterproof enough to wear in the shower and even for surfing or swimming. More recently many new brands of tape have appeared on the market, some better than others. We like to also use Rock Tape for more athletic applications, and this has opened up a new world of colors too, including fun designs like “biohazard” and “cow”. 

The advantages of both the taping method we practice is that they can help to support an injury, reduce pain and allow you to go back to your chosen activity sooner, sometimes the same day, whilst they continue to help the healing. Because the tape is not medicated it does not mask pain. If you don’t feel the pain any more then the pain is gone. This makes the tape safe to use for everyone.

If you have an injury or an ache that is holding you back, come and speak to us to find out if taping can help you recover faster.

Guinea Pig Workout Weeks 6 & 7 - by Carrie Adamson

Sometimes life just takes over. I apologize to anyone who has been following me that I haven’t written a summary for a couple weeks. Like so many others I have other commitments and trying to juggle all of them can be tiring. Like others I am tired, get headaches, or just don’t want to get out and go. You have to want it, always remember the feeling that you get when you’re done and want it. Training, not just exercising is almost like a second full time job. I run six days a week, workout with Alan and Corina three times, so that makes for three days of double workouts. Each one is at least an hour. But it is a commitment I made and put priority on to make it at the top of the list. It competes with other things I do in my life, but I am determined to do it all. So here is what has happened in my training the last two weeks. 

My build weeks came back with a vengeance. Like Alan and Corina said after my recovery week my body did feel light, refreshed, stronger. But one day back at full speed in the studio and I was feeling the burn for sure. My second build session started with two legs days and one upper body. Any exercise that used weights had them increased. My second build week was on arms and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it through. Along with the weight increases I was pretty beat up from my running workouts and not getting as much sleep as I should from being out. I feel like a struggled a bit on my upper body days and there were times in my head I was telling myself I wanted to be done, not finish my sets. So hearing Alan behind me pushing me on to get through makes the biggest difference. I am getting down to the wire, only four weeks to go until my race, so making sure I get the rest and sleep I need is just as important as my running and weight training. 

I am starting so feel some aches and pains from the training. Alan calls them something different, but with his accent I can’t quite tell what the word is. I think it starts with the letter n? My soft tissue recovery work has been a welcomed treat at the end of my weeks. For the first time two weeks ago I was tag teamed by Alan and Corina during my massage, both working on my legs at the same time. Alan worked on both my legs and let Corina be the mean one and really work out the trouble spots making me grimace for the last half. Last week I was still having some trouble in my hamstring, or what I think is my hamstring and Alan taped it up with Rock Tape. This tape felt like it was a gentle stretch, a massage for the few days I kept the tape on. It is almost like a battle scar. I got asked several times what it was and I got to explain it making it seem like I am a trooper for battling through the pain. A cool feeling to have, knowing I am still able to work out and getting the attention my pains are getting taken care of before they become injuries. Just like sleep and rest, listening to your body for the aches and getting them treated is just as important. 

My life has kept me busy, two full time jobs – the one that pays the bills and training for the Boston Marathon plus spending much needed time with my boyfriend, family and friends. I am happy to do it all and hope that I have the right balance of it all. Back to the grind.

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