RockTape is a brand of Kineseology tape, designed to help improve posture, movement, performance and recovery from injury. It has special properties which enable it to be stretched, shaped and contoured to the body without restricting movement or being uncomfortable. RockTape is very versatile and can be used to help many issues including:
- Improving posture & awareness (backs, necks, shoulders)
- Easing pain and swelling from sprains & strains
- Plantar fasciitis
- Rotator cuff injuries, shoulder pain
- Tennis / golfers elbow
- Symptoms from arthritis
- Iliotibial band syndrome
- Piriformis syndrome
- Bursitis
- Neck / shoulder pain from whiplash
Depending on how RockTape is applied it can do a few helpful things:
- Improve circulation and blood flow to promote healing
- Activate / deactivate specific muscles to enhance function
- Increase awareness of joints to improve posture
- Offload’ specific painful / injured structures, allowing them to rest and heal
RockTape and Pilates
Those of you already attending my classes will know that Pilates is largely about developing greater body awareness in order to improve alignment, posture and movement control. As a consequence it produces the perfect balance between flexibility-mobility and strength-stability…and RockTape can help you achieve that sooner.
RockTape can be applied directly before your Pilates class to help ease areas of pain and improve your posture. This perfectly compliments the exercises you do in class, fast-tracking you to all the benefits Pilates is well known to offer.
If you have a particular area / injury that you think may benefit form RockTape ask Emma for more advice. An initial assessment, advice and treatment application cost £15, repeat treatment applications cost £10. Each RockTape application typically last for 5-7 days and can really help you gain the most of your Pilates workout.
For further information on how RockTape works continue to read on…
RockTape is engineered to mimic the human skin. It stretches up to 180% of its original length but has amazing ‘snap-back’ or recovery. This is what gives RockTape its performance advantage over other tapes.
RockTape can be used in a variety of ways to achieve different benefits:
When RockTape is applied with little or no stretch on the tape but lots of stretch on the tissue it causes the skin to form convolutions and wrinkle. This creates a bio-mechanical lifting mechanism that decompresses the tissue just under the skin. It is believed that this decompression and having tape on our skin creates 3 main effects:
- Fluid Effect: By causing decompression of the taped area it promotes promotes circulation. This helps to reduce any excess swelling in the underlying tissues, thus promoting the drainage of toxins which build up as a result of injury and inflammation. Blood also has less resistance to enter the area, this encourages delivery of more oxygen and nutrients which are vital for healing and recovery. This fluid effect is probably behind the dramatic improvement in swollen and bruised tissue that is often seen when RockTape is applied.
- Mechanical Effect: RockTape reduces pressure on the vertical layer cake of tissue between skin and bone. This facilitates a more normal slide and glide mechanic between the layers of tissue such as muscle and fascia. It is likely that this is the mechanism that can make someone who can only bend as far as their knees touch their toes in an instant!
- Neurological Effect: A lot of pain generated by movement or muscle contraction is generated by nerve endings in the space between the skin and muscle. As tape decompresses this space the pressure of nerve endings is reduced or removed. The sensation of having RockTape stuck to your skin is also believed to stimulate receptors within the skin called Mechanoreceptors. These receptors play an important role in our movement awareness, or what therapists call Proprioception. They also help determine our posture and alignment. Many therapists believe that one of the main effects of applying RockTape is to improve our Proprioception and posture, which can decrease pain and improve the way we move.
When RockTape is applied with more stretch it can be used to support areas where tissue has been strained, torn, weakened or lengthened. By adding more elastic recoil to the taped area, functional stability and tissue ‘snapback’ are enhanced.
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