by rocktapeuk | Mar 24, 2016 | Medical, Rocktape Kinesiology Tape
Acute low back pain is very common, and a condition that affects a large proportion of the population at some stage throughout their life. Kinesiology tape has been shown to be an effective early intervention in a recent study from Turkey. In this study, 109 subjects with acute low back pain were allocated into two groups. Both groups received the same intervention consisting of information regarding lumbar pain, correct lifting techniques and advice re sleeping positions. They were also given reassurance about the benign nature of their pain, and advice re keeping active within pain limits. Both groups were allowed to take paracetamol as required. The intervention group also had kinesiology tape applied to their low backs in a star, or “zapper†formation. (See our website for a video on how the “zapper†is applied). The tape was applied three times, and left in place for four days each time. This gave a total taped duration of 12 days. The researchers measured pain on a VAS, determining a priori that their MCID (minimal clinically important difference) would be a reduction in this score of 3.5cm. They also utilised the Oswestry score as a measure of disability, and also the number of paracetamol tablets consumed. The study found that the VAS had reduced by the pre-determined 3.5cm by day six in the taped group, compared with day twelve in the control group. The Oswestry score was significantly reduced in the taped group at twelve days when compared with the control group, and it was still better four weeks later but this was not quite at a statistically significant level. The...
by rocktapeuk | Mar 14, 2016 | equine
Helen is a fully qualified Equine Physiotherapist and sit on the committee for IAAT (The International Association of Animal Therapists). Helen provides some insights into the world of equine taping… As with any human athlete, horses also require help every now and again for support with their muscoskeletal system. I use tape in several ways to maximise the horse’s athletic potential in different disciplines and decrease the recovery time during injury. The main reasons I find for taping are; Proprioception – asking the horse to use muscles that are perhaps atrophied or contracted Haematoma – as a lymphatic drainage to reduce the swelling Pain – to lift the fascia and allow blood flow to the pain site Support – for tendon, ligament issues Using tape alongside physiotherapy, I am able to best judge the suitability of each application for maximum rehabilitation of the horse. E.g. A rotated pelvis would require taping along the Semitendinosus for proprioception to encourage the opposite hind limb to step under and help rebalance, or where I have manipulated the pelvis back, keep the pelvis level. Where a trauma has occurred, perhaps a kick in the field, I am able to alleviate stiffness through stretches but with the use of tape I am able to treat any Haematoma that has occurred by encouraging the drainage back to the lymph glands. The tape lasts (dependant on weather, rugs, clipping etc) between 3-5 days and I always leave the client with spare tape pre cut and instructions on how to reapply. Kinesiology taping is a simple and affective form of treatment that most owners can use to...
by rocktapeuk | Mar 11, 2016 | skiing
By Rachael Dickens Medical Lead for Skiing with Heroes Last week 26 wounded veterans, who had all seen service in Iraq or Afghanistan went to Switzerland where they spent a week with the charity Skiing with Heroes. They were joined by two wounded veterans from Canada who were with us via Soldier On! A Canadian charity wanting to copy our success and take the idea back to Canada. Skiing with Heroes aims to support wounded veterans back into education/employment and ultimately back into civilian life. It takes a group of wounded veterans and after a ski week gives every single person a mentor for a year. It also funds the first ever Pain Management Clinic for veterans in association with King Edward VII Hospital in London. During the ski week the veterans are assisted by a medical support team of 7. These medic volunteers including two osteopaths and one physiotherapist have once again been tape sponsored by RockTape. During the week the physio osteo team used the tape supplied on over 60 treatments. The veterans without one exception had never had this tape used on them before. Most likely reason is that they receive their treatments from the NHS and not from private clinics. The physio is an army physio and loves RockTape but doesn’t get to use is as the army buy different (ie cheaper) kinesiotape. (We let him have all the tape that we had left over so our soldiers can benefit when he gets back to his own command) Why do we prefer RockTape? Because amputees have heavy prosthetics and this causes a huge strain on...
by rocktapeuk | Mar 10, 2016 | CrossFit, Rocktape Kinesiology Tape, ROCKTAPE Study's
You have eaten right, trained hard, and mentally have prepared for the Open 2016. You may have had an injury on and off in the last year, but have struggled through it. You may have even struggled with going to the Box for your workouts because you felt burned out. Now you dig deep for the best performance possible and maybe or maybe not you are meeting your expectations. Some of these symptoms are signs of OVERtraining. Other signs include chronic injuries, loss of motivation, and increased susceptibility to injury resulting in stupid little injuries that start to add up or are just painful enough to annoy you and affect your performance. Overtraining occurs when we have an imbalance between the anaerobic and aerobic systems in the body. Many sports are anaerobic, aerobic, or both. Some sports that are thought to be aerobic are actually anaerobic based on the intensity of the exercise that causes a specific sympathetic response in the nervous and endocrine systems. Sports like weightlifting, crossfit, hockey, football (soccer), and tennis are anaerobic. Things like walking, running, and cycling are anaerobic, BUT it depends on the intensity of the training. There are two gears to our nervous system: there is the fight or flight state (sympathetic) and the rest and digest state (parasympathetic). When we are under stress our nervous system goes into a fight or flight response and we release specific hormones from our adrenal glands (nebennierre) which help us manage the situation. The sympathetic response will constrict blood vessels, dilate the pupils, increase blood flow to the muscles and away from the digestive organs,...
by rocktapeuk | Mar 9, 2016 | Reviews
Rock Rub is something of an oddity, but like many oddities we’ve sort of fallen in love with it. The basics: Rock Rub is either a massage wax or a callus-busting moisturiser or possibly both. If you looked at the cheeky strap-line on the jar – ‘Go stronger, longer’ – you might get a third, more Fifty Shades, impression. The confusion comes in depending on whether you check out the wax on the US website or its UK counterpart. In the US Rock Rub is predominantly sold on the basis of its moisturising strengths whilst in the UK it would appear we’re not quite ready to admit to rough skin and it’s marketed as a massage wax. In fact Rock Rub is pretty damn good all round. The reason why Rock Rub works well as both a moisturiser and a massage aid is down to the ingredients. Beeswax (Australian beeswax to be specific, although we don’t know if that’s significant) forms the base along with canola oil, to which is added vitamin E, patchouli, lavender and the mysterious sounding ylang-ylang. It’s really the latter – along with the vitamin E benefits – that make Rock Rub so good for the skin, whilst the beeswax, with it’s slightly ‘tacky’ qualities that make it so well balanced for massage, particularly myofascial release. Whilst we had feared that patchouli and lavender would be an overpowering combination, the smell is actually subtle and, most importantly for massage, the consistency remains constant during treatment. A little also goes a surprisingly long way. Many runners opt to go for a good long-term build up of...
by rocktapeuk | Mar 8, 2016 | diving, Interviews, Rocktape Kinesiology Tape
I was at a Health Expo prior to the Dallas Marathon. I had been using kinesiology tape extensively with my patients as well as the athletes of USA Diving for many years. I saw a RockTape booth and was intrigued to find what this tape had to offer that my current tape didn’t. So I stated talking to this guy named Greg van den Dries. He had no idea who I was and I had no clue who he was. We were just two guys at a pre-race health fair. I was browsing around looking at products and was intrigued by this new tape with the slogan “Go Stronger, Longer.†He was an owner and developer of a relatively new kinesiology tape company called RockTape. He went through his little spiel trying to convince me how much better RockTape was compared to the “other†brand. I then told him of my involvement with the US Diving team as their Head Athletic Trainer/ Physical Therapist and that I was about to travel for the World Cup of Diving. So he handed me six rolls. In a month I was in London for an event leading up to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. It was there that I first exposed the athletes of USA Diving to RockTape. One by one, these athletes came to me and said that RockTape was “by far better†than what I had previously been applying. It stayed on longer and held up to the demands of hitting the water at 35+ miles per hour. RockTape quickly became an integral part of my medical kit. Today, RockTape...
by rocktapeuk | Mar 7, 2016 | CrossFit, Interviews, Rocktape Kinesiology Tape
I read this quote a few days ago, and it actually took some time to sink in and think about… “The suffering is so intense, that it’s absolutely cleansing. The pain is so deep and strong that a curtain descends over your brain….Once, someone asked me what pleasure I took in riding for so long. ‘PLEASURE???? I said.’ ‘I don’t understand the question.’ I didn’t do it for the pleasure; I did it for the pain.†– Lance Armstrong I totally get it! I have spent years competing. In Judo – where i have represented my country for many years, and then in CrossFit, where I have fought, and succeeded for a place at the Regionals in 2014 and 2015. We put ourselves through these workouts… and yes, it actually hurts! Every single person who is competing in the Open will have finished a workout and been left rolling around on the floor – thinking what the fuck! Incoherent and bemused yet satisfied! What pleasure is there in feeling your lungs hurt, and your muscles cry?! Well there is pleasure… there is pleasure in pain. Having competed and fought for a place at the European/ Meridian Regionals for two years, I was a bit – no let’s re-phrase that… very down… not to be in ‘that fighting place’ this year. A shoulder injury has set me back this year, and I was thinking about not entering the Open for 2016. But then I remembered why I love this sport. I love the pain. I thrive off the feeling of hurting. Of putting myself into ‘that’ place where nothing else...
by rocktapeuk | Mar 3, 2016 | Interviews
Nutrition- I try to follow the Zone eating plan based on 14 blocks (3 blocks for breakfast, 3 for lunch, 3 for dinner and 1 morning and evening snack). I introduced this as I find it an easier to keep track of how much and what I am eating. I do sometimes find it hard to fit the snacks in during the day- especially on a Tuesday and Wednesday as these are my the days I work and coach. I have my lunch and dinner meals from The Meal Box Company. I don’t have much time to prep food, so the convenience of a pre-prepped meals are fantastic and the meals taste great- I highly recommend them. Supplements wise I take Omega 3 (icon nutrition) and GLC 2000 with my break- fast and evening meal. Pre and during training – Bcaa- (Icon nutrition)- fruit punch is my favourite. Post Wod- I have a Icon nutrition shake usually Cookies N cream or Chocolate peanut butter- got to be the be the best tasting whey I have ever had! My programming is provided by Ben Allen (aka coach) a very good friend and owner of Elevate performance. He has a very analytical approach to my training and has collected data from when i started Crossfit in Oct 2012, he knows what works well and how to motivate me!! He also under- stands my time constraints and has adapted my programming with this in mind. My longest ses- sion is normally about 2 hours- within this time I try to work on my weaknesses as well as trying to improve on my...
by rocktapeuk | Feb 29, 2016 | Uncategorised
As a quick introduction, my name is Luke Ursell and I train motocross athletes from amateurs all the way up to pro and British championship contenders out of my gym in Derby. Training for motocross can be extremely taxing on the body and requires a lot of conditioning, my athletes do two strength sessions weekly, balance and proprioceptive work, test and ride their motorcycle up to three times a week as well as swimming, running, rowing and cycling. The sport requires complete concentration over three 30 minute races throughout the day, these are all anaerobic in nature and tax every system of the body. I first started training motocross riders after I retired from racing myself. After three fractured vertebrae, a shoulder that didn’t like to stay in its socket, surgeries and general pains in my ankles, knees and hips, I wasn’t sure my body would take another season. It was around this time I met Josh Spinks a then young talent in the industry, he had a glowing career in the kids class with 2X BSMA national championships but he had just come off a flurry of injuries including a C7 neck fracture and two broken feet, that coupled with financial strains caused him to hang up his boots. Josh picked up a little support and agreed to give it one last shot, three years later and he is well recognised as one of the big hitters in the British championship, leading races and taking multiple positions in the top 6, he has gone from strength to strength and has his sights clearly set on the top 5...
by rocktapeuk | Feb 23, 2016 | ice hockey, Rocktape Kinesiology Tape
As a Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist I often use tape as an adjunct to treatment to facilitate and encourage correct movement patterns with my patients. I joined the Great Britain Ice Hockey Team in early 2015 as physio for the U18s squad having never seen an Ice Hockey game in my life! My initial thought (aside from how brutal the sport can be!!) is how much potential there is for injury. At World Championship level the athletes will play 5 games, in addition to daily practices over a week long period, thus leaving little time for recovery and rehabilitation. Previously, although qualified as a ‘RockDoc’, I tended to lean towards the more traditional, rigid Zinc Oxide taping methods. Watching the GB squad perform, it occurred to me how restrictive and (let’s be honest) ineffective these techniques can be. Although the players usually spend no longer than a minute on the ice at a time, the intensity is phenomenal. I was finding the zinc oxide tape was lasting no more than 20 minutes and I often had to re-tape between periods. Not only does this take time away from the boys rehydrating and resting, but was also leaving them with uncomfortable skin rashes due to the lack of breathability. This year I joined the U20s squad for their World Championships in Megeve. Having a little more time to prepare, it occurred to me that it would be a great idea to approach RockTape to see if they would like to team up with Team GB for the competition – to our delight they agreed! Having won the gold medal in the previous...
