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I have wondered what all that tape many of those
athletics in the Olympics are wearing.
According to this blurb on Yahoo its: What is that tape athletes are wearing?
Injured Olympians Turn to Tape: The Sticky Science of Kinesio By KATIE MOISSE (@katiemoisse) Aug. 10, 2012 It's everywhere: on abs, legs, backs, even backsides. The neon tape swathing sprinters and swimmers alike, called Kinesio, is taking London by storm. "It's all over the Olympics," said Dr. Jennifer Solomon of New York City's Hospital for Special Surgery. "Athletes love it." Developed by a Japanese chiropractor, Kinesio claims to cut pain and boost performance. And judging by its prominence at this year's Games, athletes think it works. "If you ask them, they say it does," said Solomon, team physician for the U.S. Tennis Association. "But there's no solid scientific evidence that this tape helps." Crafted from cotton and medical grade adhesive, Kinesio is more flexible than traditional tape. And when strategically strewn along injured muscles, its gentle tug promotes circulation to help clear out damage, according to its maker. "No one's claiming this is a cure," said Michael Good, international director for the Albuquerque, N.M.-based company. "It's an adjunct therapy." But a slew of studies that failed to find bona fide benefits have some experts skeptical. "It might have some small role in the rehab process," said Dr. Dennis Cardone, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. "But without evidence, we can't say it's doing anything near what the company claims or what athletes using it say they feel." The effort to tease out the tape's true benefits is complicated by the placebo effect. "If an athlete's convinced the tape is helping and looks cool, it can certainly boost their confidence," Cardone said. And look cool, it does. From bands of beige to fans of fuchsia, Kinesio is leaving its mark on multiple events. As a result, traffic to the product's website is up 1,000 percent since the start of the games, according to Good. The waterproof tape, designed to stick for up to five days, sells for $6 a strip or $13 a roll. But buying it is only half the battle. "If you don't know the proper taping technique, you're not going to get the results you want," said Good, adding that more than 100,000 athletic trainers worldwide have taken the paid Kinesio Taping course, about 10,000 last year in the United States alone. "The tape is just a tool." Although it has been around for 25 years, Kinesio got its break at the Beijing Summer Games after U.S. beach volleyball gold-medalist Kerri Walsh wore it in bright blue on her shoulder. "That's why it's popular," said Dr. Andrew Gregory, a sports medicine doctor and team physician at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. "Not because there's good science behind it." But Gregory agrees that Kinesio might give some athletes a psychological edge. "And in a setting like the Olympics, any edge is a good thing," he said. While the science so far comes up short, company spokesman Good said Kinesio's elite following speaks for itself. "These are not random athletes getting taped," Good said. "The trainers using it at the Olympics are probably the best in their country, using it on best athletes in the world." But in the age of evidence-based medicine, Good acknowledges the need for placebo-controlled trials. "We encourage the research," he said. "We just need to put bigger studies together." Bigger studies, Good added, mean international collaboration. So the company hosts an annual research symposium to bring Kinesio researchers together. This year's event is in Dusseldorf, Germany. In the meantime, experts see little risk in using Kinesio, even if its benefits remain unproved. "If the athlete likes it and it's not too expensive," Vanderbilt team physician Gregory said, "then what's the harm?"
What's That Tape Every Olympian Wears? Should It Be Banned? By Daniel Lametti Posted Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012, at 3:00 AM ET If you’ve been watching the Olympics, you’ve surely noticed all the strips of colored tape plastered to athletes’ bodies. The media sure has: In the past two weeks, Reuters, the Atlantic, ABC News, and Fox (among others) have all reported on the colored tape, which is sold by a company called Kinesio. According to the product's website, the tape is designed to “facilitate the body’s natural healing process while allowing support and stability to muscles and joints without restricting the body’s range of motion.” The press has questioned this claim, and rightly so. Studies of the tape’s efficacy suggest that there’s no proof that this particular tape is any better than any other kind of tape. But this doesn’t mean athletes shouldn’t use it, especially if they believe that it works—and many, judging by the number wearing it at the Olympics, do. The placebo effect—the idea that medically inert substances that people believe to have a beneficial effect can, in fact, have a beneficial effect—is a well-documented phenomenon. And in sports, studies suggest that placebo effects improve performance. In one 2006 study, for instance, experienced cyclists were told that they would either receive a placebo or caffeine before a 10-kilometer time trial. In reality, all the athletes got a placebo, but when they thought they’d been given caffeine they pedaled harder—and the more caffeine they were told they were administered the harder they pedaled. “When I thought I was on the 9 mg of caffeine I went faster,” reported Subject 2 at the end of the study. “I felt more on top of it whereas all the other times I felt like I was having to dig in just to keep the pedals turning over.” Pain relief might be the biggest benefit of placebos. In a 2007 study, competitors in a test of pain endurance were given morphine on training days and a placebo they were told was morphine on the day of the competition. Compared to a control group that never got morphine, the placebo group showed an increased ability to endure pain during the competition. As the authors of the 2007 study point out, the fact that a placebo can emulate the effects of morphine raises ethical questions about their use in athletic competitions. So if Kinesio tape does cause a placebo-like increase in performance, should the adhesive bandage be banned? According to the World Anti-Doping Agency, a substance must satisfy two of the following three conditions to be considered for its prohibited list: 1) it represents a potential or actual health risk; 2) it has the potential to enhance or enhances sport performance; 3) it is contrary to the spirit of sport. Here, the last two could apply. As a placebo, Kinesio tape has the potential to enhance performance. And if athletes believe that applying the tape gives them an advantage it could be argued that this is contrary to the spirit of sport. But this argument, I think, is weak. Athletes believe in the benefit of lots of odd things—having a pre-game bowel movement, getting slapped in the face, sleeping in your opponents’ shorts. It would be ridiculous to ban any of these things, much less all of them. So let’s put Kinesio tape in the same category as a playoff beard: a potential performance enhancer that adds some color to our favorite sports.
Kinesio tape: The latest Olympic accessory By Jen Christensen, CNN updated 1:42 PM EDT, Sat August 11, 2012 (CNN) -- Beach volleyball players, particularly Olympians, are known all around the world for their incredible skill with the ball. They've also been known for wearing those skimpy uniforms. Now, something that's covering their skin is getting a lot of attention. It's called kinesio tape. The tape has been around for decades, but during the London 2012 Olympics, it has been spotted stretching and spiraling in interesting patterns on some athletes. U.S. silver medalist Trey Hardee had big black pieces snaking up his legs in the decathlon. German beach volleyball star Katrin Holtwick wore bright blue bits of it running up and down her six-pack abs. Even ping-pong players were reportedly wearing it. With its Olympic popularity, athletic trainers say you can bet you will see a lot more of the tape at your local gym or on the playing field this year. Paul Ullucci Jr., a Rhode Island athletic trainer who is on the board of the National Athletic Trainers Association, says he received a call Friday from a patient about the tape. "She said she had been watching the Olympics, saw the tape on sale, and wondered if she should buy it," he says. "I definitely think I'll be getting a lot more of these calls for the next month or two." The highs and lows of the 2012 Olympic 'crying games' Ullucci says he keeps the tape as a tool to help improve balance in athletes, and says it helps prevent excessive protraction injuries -- in layman's terms, shoulder problems from activities including playing tennis. If you put the soft and stretchy cotton tape in the right area, Ullucci says, it will pull at your skin when you start to overextend your arm, reminding you not to. Because the tape is thin and pliable, it's different from athletic tape used on ankles or wrists, he says. That kind of tape keeps the injured joint from bending to prevent further injury. Japanese chiropractor and acupuncturist Kenzo Kase designed the taping method in 1979, according to his company, Kinesio. He thought the standard taping methods of the time were too restrictive and may even extend injuries, because they inhibited the flow of inflammatory fluids beneath the skin. A flexible tape that could be applied to injured muscles, he believed, would stimulate circulation through its tug on skin and start clearing out the damage. According to Adam Halpern, education director for Kinesio, Kase's patients kept telling him they felt great in his office, but the impact of his healing hands would diminish after a while. The tape he developed stretched the good feeling. "I was just at the Olympic beach volleyball game between Russia and China with him, and both of the teams were covered in it," Halpern said. "You should have seen the doctor's smile. To think he just had an idea and created a product that serves practitioners and is used at the highest level of athletic competition in the world, well, you know why he was smiling." The company has trained more than 100,000 practitioners around the world on how to use the tape, Halpern says. It has been used by 80 countries at the London Games, he says. It also has been spotted at the usually staid Wimbledon and on athletes including soccer's David Beckham and cycling's Lance Armstrong. "A lot of athletes like it because there are no chemicals and it is a natural healing mechanism that tells different receptors to deactivate a little bit if the muscle gets too tight," Halpern says. Some, however, are skeptical about the tape's effects. There aren't many large scientific studies regarding its effectiveness, says Dr. Nicholas Fletcher, an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at Emory University. "I think, if anything, there is a placebo effect involved, and there probably is a little bit of a peer pressure effect. When people see athletes who are doing so well, they think, 'Maybe this could work for me,'" he says. Why do Olympians bite their medals? He compared the tape to knee braces for athletes. "There is little data to support knee braces' effectiveness in a lot of situations, but when I talk to my patients, they say they don't want to run without it," he says. Robin Rogers, an Atlanta runner who is also a massage therapist for athletes, says he's a fan of the tape. "It definitely feels like it is doing something, and helped me feel better in training," Rogers says. He has used it for his own plantar fasciitis. With his clients, he uses it for shin splints and he has taped up some hamstrings. Rogers says he hasn't used the tape in any races yet. "But hey, I'm a runner -- we'll try anything that will give us that edge." Running coach and marathoner Tina Klein says she tried the tape, but it didn't work for her. "I have hamstring issues and I kept trying it, but the stuff just wouldn't stick to me," she says. "Ultimately, I decided to go the regular therapy route instead, but I know some people swear by the stuff." Still, says Fletcher, "If it gives you a sense of stability and support, or gives you that psychological edge, why not? It's not going to harm them. It's pretty-colored cotton tape."
Kinesio Tape: What Is the Colorful Tape on Olympian Bodies & Does it Work? Travelers Today By Katie McFadden Updated: Aug 12, 2012 11:00 AM EDT Medals aren't the only thing that Olympians are being decorated with. Kinesio tape seems to be the latest Olympic trend. The colorful tape is becoming increasingly popular as is stretches across body parts of several Olympians at the 2012 London Olympics. U.S. silver medalist Trey Hardee had some black strips of the product running up his legs during the decathlon. Volleyball players like Germany's Kartin Holtwick had bright blue pieces streaking across her abs. Even divers and ping-pong players have been spotted sporting the new trend. So what is it? Developed in 1979 by Dr. Kenzo Kase, kineso tape is used for pain management and to aid athletic injuries. According to the product's website, it "is designed to facilitate the body's natural healing process while allowing support and stability to muscles and joints without restricting the body's range of motion." It supposedly reduces pain, boosts performance and promotes improved circulation and healing. Kinesio is taken from the word kinesiology, or the study of human movement. Athletes wear the flexible tape made of cotton and medical adhesive because it increases circulation and clears out damage by tugging on the skin. Dr. Kase firmly believes in the powers of his invention. "Your pain sensors are located between the epidermis and the dermis, the first and second layers of your skin," Kase told the Guardian. "I thought that if I applied tape to the pain it would lift the epidermis slightly up and make a space between the two layers. This would in turn allow blood to flow more easily to the injured area. But you can use the tape in lots of ways, depending on the width and the amount of stretch. The tape was first seen at the Olympics when US volleyball player Kerri Walsh wore it at the Beijing Games in 2008, according to Yahoo News. However, it is now seen on the bodies of several Olympians from different countries, playing various sports. It has even been used outside of the Olympics. David Beckham was spotted wearing it at a Real Madrid match. Cyclist Lance Armstrong praised the product in his book Every Second Counts. Tennis star Serena Williams wore it at Wimbledon. Considering how popular kinesio tape has become among athletes, they're convinced that it does help in some way, however experts say differently. "There's no solid scientific evidence that this tape helps," Jennifer Solomon, team physician for the U.S. Tennis Association, told ABC. "It might have some small role in the rehab process," said Dr. Dennis Cardone, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, as quoted by ABC. "But without evidence, we can't say it's doing anything near what the company claims or what athletes using it say they feel." Despite their being no scientific proof that it works, athletes continue to wear it. Good suspects that there must be some reason behind it. "These are not random athletes getting taped," Good told ABC. "The trainers using it at the Olympics are probably the best in their country, using it on best athletes in the world." Experts believe that athletes may like to wear it because it has a placebo effect. They may feel like they have an edge while wearing this performance boosting, pain reducing magic tape. This alone could give them more confidence and help them to perform better during events. "I think, if anything, there is a placebo effect involved, and there probably is a little bit of a peer pressure effect. When people see athletes who are doing so well, they think, 'Maybe this could work for me,'" Dr. Nicholas Fletcher, an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at Emory University, told CNN. As the trend grows, the tape is being sold at shops in the Olympic Village. It comes in various widths and colors and can be bought online. A roll sells for about $10 on Amazon. |