by rocktapeuk | Jan 12, 2016 | Medical, Rocktape Kinesiology Tape
0%. Null. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. The September 2015 issue of Men’s Health proclaimed this is the amount of “measurable change in people’s strength when they lifted weights†while wearing kinesiology tape.[1] We’ve been telling people the same thing since the first Fascial Movement Taping course we ever taught, so this is hardly news to RockTape or to the thousands of people who’ve been trained by us. This latest revelation from Men’s Health is attributed to the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. We can only assume they’re talking about Csapo and Alegre’s paper that was published in that journal in 2014.[2] The paper concludes that the best evidence seems to point to the fact that putting kinesiology tape on doesn’t make you magically stronger. And we agree. Traditionally, it was thought and taught by other groups that depending on which direction you apply kinesiology tape you can strengthen or weaken muscles. Very complicated approaches using elaborate tape applications were founded on this idea. These approaches still get taught by some people today, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Several studies, like the one mentioned earlier, do not lend support to the idea that tape can be used to strengthen and weaken muscles. This is actually great news that RockTape embraced early on because it frees people to use our tape without having to fuss over which direction and “over which muscles†to apply it. That makes it faster and easier to apply, so what’s not to like? So, we hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but Men’s Health and the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport are...
by rocktapeuk | Jan 12, 2016 | Uncategorised
Most people don’t think of strength training as a necessary part of being a better runner, but it is an important routine to get into for anyone putting miles on their shoes. The stigma against strength training for runners has always been twofold: first, that to be a better runner you just have to run. A lot. And, second, that strength equates to more bulk to have to carry when running. In reality, strength training gives your body a needed break from the repetition of running and it can lead to better performance and fewer injuries. Most of the injuries associated with running can be offset with greater strength, which means stronger muscles, connective tissues and joints. The problem areas of hips and knees for runners do really well with regular strength training. More strength in those areas means more control and tougher structural integrity to be able to deal with the impact of running. And, more strength means more speed, too, which every runner likes! The most basic exercises that use lots of muscles and joints are the best ones for runners. Using equipment this means squats, deadlifts and overhead presses and most runners would benefit from bench press, too. Without equipment, you can effectively strength train using just your bodyweight, too. Bodyweight squats, lunges, push ups and even things like wall walks and handstands give plenty of resistance for runners to build strength with. Keep your routine basic. Try to do some strength training before or after every run, for 5-10 minutes. Keep the weight relatively light, using less than 70% of your one-rep max (the most...
by rocktapeuk | Dec 16, 2015 | Guest Posts
By Tom Colwill BSc Sports Therapist | Strength & Conditioning Coach RockDoc and ROCKTAPE Ambassador The University of Bath was the location for the introduction weekend for the British Keelboat Academy. 36 sailors from around the country all meeting up to develop their understanding of what it takes to be a top level, professional sailor. The content was delivered by different lecturers focusing on Nutrition for sport, the Psychological demands of a team, calendar synchronisation, the financial demands as an athlete, then there was my segment, ‘Fitness testing and an introduction to movement and mobility’. The fitness testing section came first and we asked the sailors to complete as many “correct†air squats as possible in a minute, as many “correct†Pushups as possible in a minute followed by a 1K run around the track. We recorded all the athletes completing the squats and pushups on video, so that their movement can be reviewed individually and common movement faults can be identified. This was followed by a Movement and Mobility session aimed at addressing common movements that the sailors would need to perform regularly in their sport and to help them understand how to correctly execute them. We reviewed the squat and the pushup as a group and then gave out different mobility exercises to different sailors depending on their needs. We added in the sit-and-reach test which they performed, we mobilised the hamstrings, they performed again and were able to see the instant change. Instant change, that’s a concept that is quite nice. It definitely made a difference to position and movement, and it definitely caused a few...
by rocktapeuk | Nov 16, 2015 | News
Ice Hockey UK are pleased to announce that Great Britain Under-20s have teamed up with RockTape – the leading provider of kinesiology tape. RockTape will supply the product for this year’s World Championship in Megeve, France which runs from 12th to 18th December 2015. GB U20s physio, Gabby McGraw, said: “Unlike conventional sports tape, RockTape is designed to mimic human skin, allowing our athletes to move freely while they play. “Not only can we use RockTape to support athletes during game time, we can promote recovery by applying tape to influence swelling, bruising and inflammation – therefore encouraging faster healing. “We hope that by introducing RockTape to the team, we can help the players be at their peak for the duration of the competition.” Director of RockTape, Simon Bunyard, said: “RockTape are really excited to be partnering up with GB ice hockey. “We wish the team well and are very excited to be play a small part in getting some wins under their...
by rocktapeuk | Oct 28, 2015 | News, Studies
There is a particular news story that I can’t get out of my head. It was only ever a quirky, slightly comical story but I can’t help but think it’s part of a slightly bigger issue. The story of a lady temporarily paralysed because her jeans were too tight appeared in the news in June of this year. Now I am not concerned about what people wear but when people cannot move properly this does concern me – and it should concern them too. It is not ideal to awkwardly shuffle about while wearing restrictive clothing, but if you limit movement too frequently, you will end up limiting movement permanently by creating poor movement patterns. The end result is a stiffer and awkwardly moving body, with or without jeans. So while the skinny jeans may go out of fashion, they may leave their mark on our muscles and joints. In relation to back pain – if you stiffen up your legs with tight jeans then your spine naturally compensates by moving excessively and increasing the likelihood of poor lifting habits. Of course it’s not just about skinny jeans, lots of clothing can be very restrictive, in fact our culture and British history is marked by our sartorial standards, stiff collars, corsets, thick leather shoes, all wonderful refinery but coffins for our bodies. What’s the answer? Lets...
by rocktapeuk | Oct 2, 2015 | Medical, ROCKTAPE Study's, Studies
Our new Movement Beyond Mobility course is in the final stages of development and I thought our blog readership would like us to share some of the things we discovered while developing this course. It’s been an exciting experience, as we have been required to hone our physical ability to perform and present the techniques in addition to the theoretical content, its left us fitter and feeling a few years younger – we are eager to share these outcomes with our students at the British School of Osteopathy in London on the 15th of November. One of our overarching messages is the importance of movement and all of the systems that allow this to occur. Your clients and patients are likely to have read the recent reports regarding the latest health scare. I am not talking about Smoking, Cholesterol, Sugar, or Alcohol. This time it’s sitting – yes just SITTING. According to the research even FIT people are likely to be guilty of sitting too much. One fact that caught me by surprise is that even if you exercise for 30 minutes everyday, if you then spend the rest of the day predominantly sitting you are still categorised as sedentary with the associated health risks, which include, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Like many jobs, working for RockTape UK involves lots of sitting, to answer emails, write course content, reading research, and inevitable travel up and down the UK. One aspect of the job does provide some compensation for this and is considered the most rewarding part of what I do – Teaching. The new Movement Beyond mobility course...
by rocktapeuk | Sep 16, 2015 | Rocktape Kinesiology Tape, ROCKTAPE Study's
There have been two studies published in the last couple of months that add to the growing body of evidence that kinesiology tape can reduce the negative effects of fatigue with regard to muscle function. One study by Zhang et al, published in Sports Medicine Australia’s journal, looked at the effect of kinesiology tape on the forearm muscles of tennis players, whilst the other study by Ahn et al, looked at fatigue in the quadriceps. Both studies showed that tape can assist with muscle function when fatigued. In the study by Zhang, they looked at a small group of healthy tennis players, and tested their maximal strength and “work fatigue” as measured by fifty repeated contractions of the wrist flexors and extensors. The subjects were tested with kinesiology tape applied, a placebo tape applied (underwrap “fix”type tape) and with no tape. The testing order was randomly assigned. Not surprisingly, they found no increase in maximal strength with kinesiology tape applied, as it is widely accepted now that there will be no immediate strength gains from taping healthy subjects. However, they found that for the wrist flexors, having kinesiology tape applied resulted in a significant reduction in “work fatigue”, as measured by the drop off in strength over the 50 contractions, when compared with placebo tape and no tape. The authors concluded that kinesiology taping may have “a significant positive effect on muscle fatigue resistance during repeated concentric muscle actions”. The Ahn et al study looked at the effect of applying kinesiology tape after a fatigue inducing protocol for the quadriceps. They had 45 healthy female subjects, aged between 25...
by rocktapeuk | Jul 27, 2015 | CrossFit, Guest Posts, Reviews
I had the pleasure of representing RockTape at the wildwest crossfit competition which took place in Malvern in late July 2015. Firstly, it needs to be acknowledged that wild west was a fantastic event, from start to finish, the highly organised teams and management led to a very smooth weekend with a fantastic vibe. It was additionally great to see such a variety of athlete who were competing, from a few familiar faces from the Meridian Regionals in Copenhagen, to the first time competitor, it catered for all. As part of the RockTape team, accompanied by Jade Parsons and Amy Bennett, we were primarily responsible for taping and strapping the athletes. With the nature of many crossfit competitions being constantly varied, the taping techniques varied immensely between each individual athlete. Some techniques included grip taping to survive the brutal 75 seconds max effort rope climbs, to lower back /lumbar support to help battle with the never ending clean ladder. As many of you know, pull ups can take a toll on our shoulders, so again, various taping techniques were used to accommodate the athletes and enhance their individual performances. Furthermore it was great to see a few athletes smashing pb’s on their over head squat with shoulder RockTape applications. . One of the great things about RockTape is that it can help with so many elements of an athlete’s performance. It can simply provide feedback, correct movement patterns or facilitate muscle contraction, which all contributes to enhancing the best performance possible! 🙂 RockTape with their highly qualified rockdocs are always more than willing to help all athletes at the...
by rocktapeuk | Jul 15, 2015 | Reviews, Rocktape Kinesiology Tape
Hey!! first of all Id like to say RockTape Rocks!! It has seriously helped me a lot through my running career. I am an endurance athlete for Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club, but also run 2nd claim for Hertford and Ware Athletics club. I only took up running a few years ago when entering a local 10k (which I won) and it was then recommended to me that I start training with a club and I took part in a few various track events half way through the season and did very well. Track 3000m Hertfordshire County Champion Track 5000m Hertfordshire County Champion I also continue to compete at 10k off road distance and achieved my ultimate goal of a sub 40 10k last year in October, with a time of 38:58. Injuries, as any runner or any sports person will know, come with the sport and I have unfortunately been off running now for about 20 weeks with a suspected stress fracture in my ankle (awaiting results). RockTape had helped me a lot over the past few years as I suffered a lot with shin splints, however, recently it has been more helpful than ever as a support whilst training. (I have taken up swimming whilst recovering from my injury to keep up my fitness) and the H20 RockTape kinesiology tape has really helped with the support I need. I had to pull out of this years London Marathon due to my injury, but am focusing on getting fit and injury free for 2016! I cant recommend it enough and thank RockTape for all the support! Becca...
by rocktapeuk | Jul 14, 2015 | Medical, Rocktape Kinesiology Tape, Studies
It’s always nice to find some research that backs up what we find useful in clinic. Anyone who has taken a FMT course will be familiar with the Spiral squat chain taping that we teach. This study by Song et al examines the effect of a very similar taping (basically it’s the top half of the application hip-knee) on female patients with patello-femoral pain (and a control group without pain) during a single leg squat movement. The study compared 2 taping techniques, one group with no stretch on tape and the leg in neutral posture. The second group had taping with ‘moderate stretch’ on tape with the leg in an externally rotated position. The first group is a little like our symptom reduction taping and the second group is pretty much exactly how we would tape as a dynamic postural taping. They found that in the PFP group both taping applications where effective in reducing pain on squats, but only the second taping application was effective in altering the pattern of movement and muscle contraction seen during the squat. The take home message here is if all you want to achieve is pain reduction, apply tape with little to no stretch. More stretch won’t create more relief. On the other hand if you want to use tape to alter posture and movement patterns it might be a good idea to consider apply tape in the corrected position and using a little more tape stretch, however if you do this you are inevitably upping the risk of skin reaction so avoid tape stretch over delicate areas and go gentle on...
