Have you ever seen that brightly coloured or patterned tape that athletes seem to be wearing a lot nowadays? That tape is called ‘kinesiology’ tape. Professional athletes wearing Kinesiology taping at sporting events to reduce the risk of injury, support an existing injury and even reduce the pain of those injuries. Despite this sports orientated usage the benefits of taping cover a wide array of conditions depending on the areas and techniques applied:

• Assisting pain relief in sore or injured muscles
• The reduction of swelling and inflammation
• Posture control to help reduce the impact of ‘learned behaviours’
• Encourage the normal behaviour of muscle groups
• To support the rehabilitation of new and chronic injuries

Several conditions in the lower limb stand out as clear candidates for improvement via the use of ‘rock taping’ including Plantar Fasciitis, Achilles Tendonitis and general knee pain. Injuries such as ankle sprains causing swelling can be significantly improved with Kinesiology taping. So whether you are a professional sports person or somebody with a chronic injury that will not completely heal, these modern taping techniques can help.

Kinesiology taping is different from conventional taping which is non-elastic to provide rigid support and reduce motion, instead Kinesiology tape has unique elastic properties allowing support, providing safe movement and can be worn for much longer periods of time.

What is Rocktape?

Rocktape is a leading brand in Kinesiology taping and it’s unique unidirectional stretch pattern won’t reduce your range of motion, promoting safe movement not restriction. There is a variety of tape brands, but the most widely known and our brand of choice is Rocktape; Our Podiatrists have completed their Kinesiology qualification courses to become certified ‘Rock Docs’.

We recommend Rocktape because:

• It has a stronger adhesive than other kinesiology tapes to stay on during intense, prolonged exercise, swimming, showering or bathing.
• It is extra durable due to nylon reinforcement.
• It offers greater elasticity than other kinesiology tapes (190% vs 140%).
• Most applications can be worn up to 5 days.

RockTape is a special type of kinesiology tape that is almost twice as stretchy as standard kinesiology tape. It is an adhesive, hypoallergenic, latex free tape– suitable for even sensitive skin.

Unlike standard tape – which is used around joints and ligaments to restrict movement, RockTape is stretchy and is used to allow full movement of the taped area.

Benefits of RockTape

• Reduces pain – RockTape affects the pain pathways in our bodies by acting on the nerve endings and pain receptors in our skin that surround an injured area.
• Reduces local swelling and inflammation – RockTape ‘lifts’ the skin to increase the space between the layers. This increases blood flow to the skin and also encourages the by-products created by inflammation to be removed.
• Improves endurance – RockTape recruits the power of soft tissues surrounding injured or tired muscles so that the workload of the muscles is shared. This helps to reduce muscle fatigue during activity as well as rehabilitation post-exercise.
• Normalizes muscle tone – RockTape activates dormant or weak muscles and assists in developing normal strength and tone of all muscles to improve overall coordination and strength. This assists injured muscles in their recovery, as well as reducing the risk of injury.