Kinesio Taping

I am getting my feet wrapped in Kinesio Tex Tape,  a tape that is used by a number of Olympians, major sports teams such as the NFL and the NCAA, and sports figures such as  Serena Williams, and David Beckham. 


Kinesiology taping, developed by a Japanese chiropractor, Kenzo Kase,  is not like the standard tape that you see in most chiropractor's shops.  It is places in certain patterns and pulled to different degrees of tension -- a shoulder can be pulled into a certain position, etc.

So, the idea is that my feet will get pulled into shape.  There isn't much evidence in the journals as to whether it will work or not, so I guess, we are going to be going by heuristics.  On the other hand, my podiatrist does see a lot of battered feet and I think my case is pretty simple so we'll see.  I don't think it will do any harm and I am going in for orthotics anyhow.  It would be nice not to have to use not quite as much of a corrective and have the feet fall naturally back into shape.


According to the Wall Street Journal:
Two recent studies on Kinesio Tex showed some short-term effect. A study of 42 patients with shoulder pain, published in 2008 in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, found that range of motion improved immediately after application of kinesiology tape, compared with a sham taping using no tension. But the study found no significant difference in pain or overall disability scores.
Last year, a study on 41 patients with whiplash after car accidents found statistically significant pain relief and improvements in range of motion with kinesiology taping compared with a sham tape. The effects were seen immediately and continued a day later. In the paper, published last year in the same journal, the Spanish-led research team said the changes were so small they "may not be clinically meaningful." Kinesio Holding, which didn't fund either study, says a limitation of the shoulder study is that the kinesiology taping wasn't customized to each patient's injury.