Remedy Kinetic Tape

Picked up a bunch the last time it was for sale and I like it even better than the KT brand. It’s a little thicker (so a tiny bit less stretchy) and the sticky is stickier, so it stays on longer.

How do you know exactly where to place the tape? My husband is scheduled for rt knee replacement and know it seems he has torn the muscle in his calf in the right…argggg❓

I’ve watched the videos on the name brand’s (KT) website before and found them pretty helpful. :slight_smile:

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. K-Tape is a sham. At best, it gives the wearer a placebo. Source: kinesiologist.

If you do a little research, you’ll find that there is no evidence that this stuff actually helps and it may actually be making things worse/doing damage!

Whatever…to the naysayers: if you wear this to the gym, everyone will KNOW how serious you are about working out and fitness, ok? For twice the effect, wear with an Under Armour shirt.

This type of tape is great. My physical therapist uses it on me all the time to prevent further injuries from occurring.

I had a huge bruise on my leg from a boating accident. Huge. A physical therapist put some of this tape on it. She cut it in strips so just part of the bruise was covered in tape. When the tape came off, there were stripes on the bruise where the tape had made it much better. No joke. I was thinking, “no way, I might as well put scotch tape on my leg.” But for a bruise, this stuff worked for me. I can’t comment on other injuries. As a side note, if you google kinetic tape/bruises, you will see some crazy pics.

I say that if it makes you feel better, use it, and if it doesn’t, don’t. Personally, last year I did horizontal stripes around my legs for a marathon just to be silly and had a bunch (10+) of people ask me if that pattern was supposed to be good… :-/

Summary of a little research: A systematic review of the effectiveness of kinesio taping for musculoskeletal injury - PubMed

And what’s wrong with placebo? Even if the tape doesn’t actually do anything directly, that it “fools” you into doing better is of value.

How does this tape compare to RockTape?

KT Tape is junk.

There is nothing wrong with Placebo…great band!

I feel that it is very hit and miss - someone may get relief with an application and feel nothing on the next, and so on. I’m sure hard core practioners will tout that it is the precision of application where the fault lies.

It can be more effective for swelling/bruising than other things. If nothing else, it may act as a kinesthetic reminder to perform actions in a certain way or to avoid a certain detrimental movement. I do wonder how effective it is when someone wears it constantly (i.e. beach volleyball players, etc).
I use it some, but as an adjunct, not as a primary treatment/modality.

Source: I am a Physical Therapist.

Your physical therapist uses it because they get it free from the companies. Total sham.

Placebo is neither good nor bad. For example, say you feel better with the k-tape on and decide to use the injured limb because it feels better. You’re going to risk worsening the injury.

Well, I would take a kinesiologist’s word over yours, since a kinesiologist has an actual degree, granted due to merit, as opposed to a “degree” that someone paid for so they can call themselves a PT.

I can’t talk about sports injuries; I do know that for my pitting oedema, this stuff is actually just the ticket; it lets me apply compression to a part of my leg that doesn’t usually get it, and the nature of the tape (the extreme stretchiness, the fact that it sticks to the skin) means that it adjusts some as the oedema is relieved.

This is a different treatment than most people are going for. In my case, the oedema on my right leg is entirely between my knee and calf, and on the inside. It’s a hard place to compress, because socks and sleeves wind up putting compression on the parts of my body that don’t need it (resulting in swelling below the oedema towards the foot, as the lymph is prevented from returning normally). So massage to soften the oedema, combined with the tape compressing the affected area works well.

I will reiterate what others have stated this tape is utter quackery. How do I know. My Associates degree is in Nursing. My BS in Athletic Therapy and my Doctoral degree in Physical therapy. I have taken countless hours of anatomy physiology and kinesiology. This does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to promote healing, lymphatic drainage or anything beyond a psychosomatic effect, but I will admit that the psychosomatic (placebo) effect can play a large factor in healing but this tape does nothing more than that.