With Alli absent (who takes a sacred filming day off anyways?!), I decided to branch out for a week and give you a look at how I use kinesiotape to address low back issues. I’ve treated a lot of low back issues in my short tenure at OSI, and I’ve found that in cases where I’ve used kinesiotape that some patients just really benefit from its application. I’m not sure why some patients respond so well to tape and others don’t, but as an active kinesiotape user, I think it is always worth a try. Here’s some details about what I’m doing
I typically apply two strips down the back, lateral to the spinal column. Depending on the situation (and sometimes it is just a trial and error process), I will apply the tape from shoulders to the hips, or vice versa. Ideally, when applied toward the hips, the muscles will actually settle down, whereas applying from hips to shoulders should technically activate the muscles. I haven’t identified one method that works better than another in a given situation, so I’ll typically attempt a shoulders to hips approach and then change if needed.
I utilize this type of strip for two things. 1) Anchor: I like to anchor the top and bottom of the vertical strips to help prevent them from peeling off when clothes are put on or taken off. 2) Support Strip: In some cases, I will apply a black strip right over the area where the patient reports his/her pain is. I’ve been told this can be very comfortable.
I use this method to offload a very pinpoint specific pain, and have had good luck doing so. This seems to be pretty effective for application right over an SI joint (sacroilicac). It also looks pretty cool when you mix up the colors a bit.
As always, thank you for your time in watching my videos. I’ll see you back next week with Alli as we look at shoulder taping techniques.
– Jon
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