You’ve probably seen sports players and athletes wearing bright coloured tape on their legs, arms, back and other areas over the last few years. This is Kinesiology Tape. It’s been around since the s and first made an appearance in Japan. Today it can be found all over the world in all sorts of shapes, numerous brands and wonderful colours.
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Kinesiology tape (also know as K Tape or athletic tape) was designed to help in the healing process of traumatised soft tissue and muscles and has since become an essential tool for pain relief and pain management as well as lymphatic drainage. It can be use alongside sports physical therapy to improve athletic performance.
The tape is applied differently for each type of injury or pain because the aim is to target specific soft tissues so you'll have to learn the right taping technique before using it for treatments.
Athletes and sports enthusiasts use it to treat injuries and relieve pain but it is also known to help prevent injuries caused by overuse.
In a word – decompression. Unlike conventional sports tapes that are used to compress the injured area to restrict or immobilise range of motion, Kinesiology taping aims to lift the skin away from the muscle.
When applying kinesiology tape over a stretched muscle, this lifting helps to improve blood flow and oxygen levels to the muscle, increasing muscle strength.
Additionally, the lifting of the skin may create more space for lymph drainage to get rid of toxins, excess fluids and reduce fatigue.
Kinesiology tape can also be used to support the muscles and joints. Use as a standard sports tape to apply compression and help recovery.
There are cheaper Kinesiology Tapes available, however, the level of adhesive and stretch on many of these are poor.
You might save a bit at first but you’ll end up spending more in the long run when it falls off sooner than it should. You’ll spend more time applying it more frequently.
All of the Kinesiology tapes we stock are supplied in complete rolls. We have tried pre-cut tapes before however the quality and value were not up to scratch.
Instead, we’ve opted for the standard rolls, giving you a better quality tape at a much better price.
LMtape supply professional and honest service.
Everyone is a different shape and size, our rolls offer you complete control of customising the tape to your specific requirements. Our multi-purpose Kinesiology tapes can be used for all types of common injuries.
They are easy to cut to the required size and apply. If you have a preferred choice of Kinesiology tape please let us know and we will do our best to source it for you.
Kinesiologic tapes offer clear benefits over conventional (sports) tapes, with obvious differences in their form and qualities. As a result, their range of application is also different. Inelastic, rigid tapes such as Leukotape are primarily designed to provide relief to joints and joint areas through mechanical stabilization; kinesiology tapes on the other hand are designed to allow the greatest possible functional movement of the joints. The application of kinesiology tapes is intended to promote functional body movement at an early stage during or after injuries, as clinical studies have shown that this results in faster and better healing.
Rigid, inelastic tapes fix joints in a certain position, which might restrict circulation and blood flow in the treated part of the body. These tapes cause a relatively rapid decrease of muscle mass in the affected joint, which means that they aren’t intended for regular use. When fixing a joint in a certain position, it can be observed that the muscle mass, and therefore the optimal future function of the joint, decreases with time. After immobilization of the joint, this muscle mass must be built up again.
The various kinesiology tapes primarily differ among each other because of the quality of the components, such as the carrier material, adhesive, coloring agents, elasticity, and the length and width of the tape design. A standard roll of kinesiology tape measures 5 meters in length with a width of 5 centimeters.
Other available widths are 2.5 cm, 3.75 cm, 7.5 cm, and 10 cm. Narrow tapes (width of less than 5 cm) are primarily used to treat smaller joints, such as the finger joints, as well as small muscle groups. Kinesiology tapes with width of 7.5 or 10 cm are both used for application on large muscles of the thigh or back, as well as in veterinary medicine (particularly to treat large animals such as horses).
In addition to rolls sold by the meter, pre-cut tapes are also available. At TRUETAPE, we primarily use pre-cut lengths of 25 cm. Individual strips can be torn off the roll directly, without using any tools.
All tutorials and taping applications have been specially developed for use with our pre-cut strips. You can find our free video and photo tutorials in the Tutorials section.
Other tape designs include the so-called lymph tapes or edema tapes, which consist of several smaller strips with a common base. Lymph tapes resemble a large fan.
Kinesiology tapes come in many different colors. TRUETAPE is currently available in blue, black, green, and beige. The color of the tape does not influence its qualities such as its elasticity, durability, or adhesive properties. At TRUETAPE, we feel that everyone should be able to choose the color they like, with tapes for universal use.
Another important distinctive feature of kinesiology tape lies in its exceptional elastic properties. The greater the elasticity of the tape, the higher the wearing comfort – and therefore, the longer its wear duration. If a kinesiology tape is not elastic enough, the ends of the tape might start to detach significantly more quickly. This reduces the wearing comfort and might lead to a greater experience of restriction during sports or daily activities.
We therefore developed our TRUETAPE with an elasticity (stretch) of 180–200%.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website kinesiology tape supplier.