Athletes Treating Athletes

As you may recall from our intro post on kinesiology taping, our plan is to move through each muscle group/joint in the body and show you how to use kinesiology tape in three distinct ways:

1. Immediately after injury  (for swelling and pain reduction)
2. During the healing process (using correction techniques to restore normal position and allow for healing; these can include inhibition techniques, facilitation techniques, and correction strips)
3. To help improve strength + function once symptoms are gone.

In this post, we’re going to tape a step back and discuss how these different tape applications fit into the overall picture and how they can be best used with your self massage, stretching and mobilization work. Kinesiology tape is a great thing to have in your tool box, however, it’s only one piece of the puzzle. Below you will find specifics about each of the four major types of injuries. Each injury type has already been covered in our how-to section.

To quickly summarize, your self treatment should occur in steps. Jumping ahead to try and speed up the healing process following an injury is a sure fire way to create more inflammation or prolong your recovery. The first step is always to reduce the symptoms. This could include pain, swelling, and even bruising depending on the type and severity of your injury. The main way to reduce symptoms is through traditional R.I.C.E. treatment (rest, ice, compression, elevation) and gentle/pain free stretching. The next step is to begin using massage techniques to loosen up the surrounding muscles to take pressure off of the injury itself. The third step is to begin working on the injured area using superficial massage techniques such as the foam roller or stick. The fourth step is to begin working on the area using deeper and more aggressive massage techniques (such as trigger point + cross friction) and mobilizations.

With those steps in mind, adding kinesiology tape is easy. In the early days following an injury, the tape can be used to help decrease pain and swelling. This is step one where R.I.C.E. and pain free/gentle stretching are the treatment. These taping applications all involve using swelling or edema strips and look like this. The goal is to use those little fingers to help lift the skin and provide space for the swelling to move and be reabsorbed by the body.

Once the swelling is reduced and you have begun to actively work around and over the injury itself, you can change from this type of application to a correction technique. These are the more common taping applications that you are likely to spot at races and amongst your training buddies. The goals of these taping applications are to either inhibit the muscle so that it can rest and heal or to correction the position of the injured joint/muscle. Following your massage/mobilization/stretching work, this is ideally when you want to prep the skin and apply the tape before icing. From here the tape can stay on for 3-5 days and will help support the muscle.

As the injury heals and becomes pain free, the last step in the healing process is to restore muscle balance and strength. Kinesiology taping can be used again during this time as a proprioceptive tool to reinforce good alignment and to assist/facilitate the muscle.
Let’s look at specific injury types using the steps we discussed during the how-to posts. Each of those posts contains info about that specific injury type as well as tips for training/activity modifications.

Types of Injuries

Muscle Sprains/Strains

1. R.I.C.E. + gentle stretching. There should be no pain with stretching. Use kinesiology tape swelling strips over the injured area to help with swelling and pain reduction. If no swelling, you can begin with the correction applications right away.
2. Begin using the foam roller AROUND the injured area. The goal here is to start getting slack into the muscle without aggravating the injury itself. No tennis ball work or active/joint mobilizations. The order should be foam roll around injury -> stretch -> kinesiology tape -> RICE. Continue to use swelling strips until swelling is completely gone. Then you can switch over to the correction applications.
3. Begin using the foam roller over the injured area to tolerance. The order should be foam roll around injury-> over injury -> stretch -> kinesiology tape -> RICE.
4. Begin using the tennis ball for active mobilizations. The order should be foam roll around injury -> over injury -> active mobilization with the tennis ball -> stretch -> kinesiology tape -> RICE.
5. Begin using the tennis ball for cross friction + trigger point. These are the deepest of the soft tissue techniques so you want to save them for last to target specific adhesions and restrictions. Consider this your fine tuning step. The order should be foam roll around the injury -> over the injury -> mobilizations -> trigger point/cross friction -> stretch -> kinesiology tape -> RICE.
6. Strengthening to restore normal strength and muscle balance.

Tendon Injuries

1. R.I.C.E. + gentle stretching. There should be no pain with stretching. Use kinesiology tape swelling strips over the injured area to help with swelling and pain reduction. If no swelling, you can begin with the correction applications right away.
2. Begin using the foam roller to work on the muscles first (in other words above the tendon). The tendon is what attaches the muscle to bone. The goal here is to start getting slack into the muscle without aggravating the injury itself. No tennis ball work or active/joint mobilizations. The order should be foam roll the muscle above the tendon -> stretch -> kinesiology tape -> RICE. Continue to use swelling strips until swelling is completely gone. Then you can switch over to the correction applications.
3. Begin using the foam roller over the tendon to tolerance. The order should be foam roll the muscle above the tendon-> over the tendon -> stretch -> kinesiology taping  -> RICE.
4. Begin using the tennis ball for cross friction. Remember, you will want to work perpendicular to the the tendon. Start with light pressure at one end of the tendon and work your way all the way down it. Repeat as needed (and as tolerated) with increased pressure. If it’s too painful- wait and try again the next day. The order should be foam roll the muscle above the tendon -> over the tendon-> cross friction -> stretch -> kinesiology taping  -> RICE.
5. Strengthening to restore normal strength and muscle balance.

Muscle Knots/Spasms/Trigger Points

1. R.I.C.E. + gentle stretching. There should be no pain with stretching. Use kinesiology tape swelling strips over the injured area to help with swelling and pain reduction. If no swelling, you can begin with the correction applications right away.
2. Begin using the foam roller AROUND the injured area (knot/spasm). The goal here is to start getting slack into the muscle without aggravating the injury itself. No tennis ball work or active/joint mobilizations. The order should be foam roll around injury -> stretch -> kinesiology tape ->RICE. Continue to use swelling strips until swelling is completely gone. Then you can switch over to the correction applications.
3. Begin using the foam roller over the knot/muscle spasm. The order should be foam roll the muscle around the knot/spasm-> over the knot/spasm -> stretch -> kinesiology tape -> RICE.
4. Begin using the tennis ball for trigger point release. Remember, you want to let the tennis ball sink into the muscle, apply pressure, and then hold it there without moving. You’re waiting for the muscle to release. Try for 30-60 seconds and then remove the tennis ball. Repeat 2-3 times. If it’s too painful- wait and try again the next day. The order should be foam roll the muscle around the knot/spasm -> over the knot/spasm-> trigger point -> stretch -> kinesiology tape -> RICE.
5. Strengthening to restore normal strength and muscle balance.

Overuse Injuries

Remember- overuse injuries actually present as two injuries, the muscle group that broke down and what actually caused it. This means you will need to work on the newly injured area and the opposing muscle group. The first priority remains decreasing any pain, swelling, and helping the injury itself heal. From here you can begin to work on the injured muscle and the opposing muscle group. Refer to the overuse link above for full details on determining which muscles to work on.

1. R.I.C.E. + gentle stretching. There should be no pain with stretching. With most overuse injuries, there is no swelling. For these you will most likely be able to start with correction taping techniques. Obviously if there is swelling, begin with the swelling strips until it gone.
2. Start with the injured muscle group. Begin using the foam roller AROUND the injured area. The goal here is to start getting slack into the muscle without aggravating the injury itself. No tennis ball work or active/joint mobilizations. The order should be foam roll around injury -> stretch -> kinesiology tape on the injured muscle-> RICE.
3. Begin using the foam roller over the injured area to tolerance. The order should be foam roll around injury-> over injury -> stretch -> kinesiology tape on the injured muscle -> RICE.
4. Now that there is slack in the injured muscle, we can go back and assess range of motion (ROM). Are there limitations? Do you feel pressure in the joint? This is where you will add in the joint mobilization techniques. The order should be: foam roll around the injury -> foam roll over the injury -> joint mobilization -> stretch -> kinesiology tape on the injured muscle-> RICE
5. Begin using the tennis ball for active mobilizations. The order should be foam roll around injury -> over injury -> joint mobilization -> active mobilization with the tennis ball -> stretch -> kinesiology tape on the injured muscle -> RICE.
6. Begin using the tennis ball for cross friction + trigger point. These are the deepest of the soft tissue techniques so you want to save them for last to target specific adhesions and restrictions. Consider this your fine tuning step. The order should be foam roll around injury -> over injury -> joint mobilization -> active mobilization with the tennis ball -> trigger point/cross friction-> stretch -> kinesiology tape on the injured muscle -> RICE.
7. That was for the injured muscle. Now you must go back through and repeat steps 2-5 for the opposite muscle group. Go easy! You may find some rather sore spots and areas in these muscles as well. Remember- only progress through the levels when you can do so pain free.
8. Strengthening to restore normal muscle strength and balance between the opposing muscle groups.
9. In the case of repetitive overuse injuries, time must be taken to assess form and equipment as well.