Tape Your Pain Away
CategoriesAnother great non toxic pain management and, in some instances, a healing strategy...
Chris Gupta
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....Works Like a Flexible Cast
Taping works like a flexible cast. It returns joint structures to their proper positions and keeps them there, taking pressure off impinged nerves and restoring circulation. This not only provides short-term pain relief but also facilitates faster healing by restoring circulation to the area.
Although the new study on therapeutic taping only studied its effects on arthritis of the knee, it is also effective for pain in other joints, including the elbows, wrists, hands, and feet. Furthermore, taping is an extremely effective therapy for strains (muscle tears), sprains (ligament injuries), myositis (inflammation of muscle tissues), and tendinitis (inflammation of tendons). It may also be used to prevent new injuries in susceptible areas, i.e., taping knees before jogging or elbows before playing tennis...Tape Your Pain Away
If you have arthritis, you probably know about cartilage rebuilders such as glucosamine and natural painkillers like Univestin. Here's another remarkably simple therapy that you should add to your pain-relief arsenal: tape.
A Favorite of Professional Athletes
Taping is a tried-and-true, first-line therapy in sports medicine. It relieves pain and improves function by supporting injured areas and limiting their function without completely immobilizing them. Therapeutic taping has also been endorsed by the American College of Rheumatology for patients with osteoarthritis, but this simple, inexpensive, do-it-yourself therapy hasn't been embraced by physicians.
That may change with the recent publication of a placebo-controlled study showing that therapeutic taping dramatically reduced pain in patients with arthritis of the knee. In this study, 73 percent of the participants whose knees were taped for three weeks (tape was changed weekly) reported reductions in pain and the benefits of taping persisted after the tape was removed.
Works Like a Flexible Cast
Taping works like a flexible cast. It returns joint structures to their proper positions and keeps them there, taking pressure off impinged nerves and restoring circulation. This not only provides short-term pain relief but also facilitates faster healing by restoring circulation to the area.
Although the new study on therapeutic taping only studied its effects on arthritis of the knee, it is also effective for pain in other joints, including the elbows, wrists, hands, and feet. Furthermore, taping is an extremely effective therapy for strains (muscle tears), sprains (ligament injuries), myositis (inflammation of muscle tissues), and tendinitis (inflammation of tendons). It may also be used to prevent new injuries in susceptible areas, i.e., taping knees before jogging or elbows before playing tennis.
Take a Taping Lesson&
Your best bet is to learn how to tape properly from a professional: your physician, a rheumatologist or sports medicine doctor, or a trainer at your health club, local college, or high school. Once you get the hang of it, you can do it on your own. Here are some pointers from our sports medicine specialist at the Whitaker Wellness Institute, Daren Gregson, Ph.D., who is a former trainer for the Rams.
- Use sports tape, which you'll find in drugstores. Good brands include J & J, Ace, and Bike.
- Use a pre-wrap or foam under-wrap, also found in drugstores, to avoid allergic reactions and make removing the tape easier.
- Relax muscles before applying tape and avoid tapping over swollen areas.
- Wrap a double layer of pre-wrap against the skin, and then apply tape on top of the pre-wrap. Apply adhesive tap smoothly (no wrinkles or gaps), and follow the contours of the joint. To avoid cutting off circulation, don't wrap too tight, and always overlap tape in a "basket-weave" configuration.
Click here for a diagram showing where to place the tape to relieve pain caused by arthritis, injuries, and repetitive movements. But again, I encourage you to learn the basics from a trained professional. If you wish to show the study to your physician, the full article is published in the British Medical Journal and is available for free at bmj.com (search archive for year 2003, volume 327, first page 135).
&Or Use a Ready-Made Support
You may also consider using ready-made supports designed for the knees and other joints. You'll find a good selection of supports in your drugstore. Those made from neoprene offer the best long-term support.
British Medical Journal, 2003;327:135-0.http://www.drwhitaker.com/nc/hc_pain_tape.asp
posted by Chris Gupta on Tuesday August 26 2003
updated on Saturday September 24 2005URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2003/08/26/tape_your_pain_away.htm
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