Introduction
In taping you can use a number of tapes: traditional tapes such as zinc oxide and elastic adhesive bandage tape and also Kinesio tapes can be used which are becoming more common along with traditional. These tapes help to provide protection for injuries and have a whole host of other jobs when used and will be detailed within this report. MacDonald (2010) explains for taping in rehabilitation, “it must be clearly understood that taping is not a substitute for treatment and rehabilitation, but is an assist to an injury-care programme”, explained by this journal is that taping is not a replacement for treatment, it is merely a means of assisting within treatment and rehabilitation. In this case the author will be looking at whether taping techniques do assist in the rehabilitation programme and treatment of injuries. When sending out questionnaires for this report the author only got a reply from 1 of 10 sent out therefore only had a 10% intake of primary information. None the less thanks to the resources used the author will be able to write up the report through the use of websites, articles/journals from the City of Glasgow College library and the information from the interview with the physiotherapist.
Aim
The author’s main aim is to understand why taping is a good method of rehabilitation to be used on injured athletes. Through research the author believes that this aim is achievable and will give their own point of view by the end of the report, on whether or not that taping is a good method of rehabilitation.
Objective 1 – Find out whether or not taping assists in the recovery of proprioception
Due to a low number of replies most information is second hand from journals, websites and from the taping techniques block in the sports therapy course. Through the Taping techniques block on the HND sports therapy course the writer understands that using certain taping techniques can have an impact with proprioceptive input on an injured client or athlete.
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According to information the author has received from a physiotherapist who will be known as physiotherapist A, see appendix D, explains that taping techniques can help proprioception, they explain that they would only use them in the late functional stages of lower limb rehabilitation, and however they may be beneficial in the earlier stages of shoulder rehabilitation. Physiotherapist A is explaining that he believes that taping does assist in the proprioceptive input that can be lost due to injuries.
In 2004 a study was carried out by physiotherapists to test the theory of taping techniques to assist in proprioceptive input. These tests were carried out on the ankle joint. (Travis Halseth, 2004) that ran the tests explains in the final results that there were no significant differences from the data analysis from those who were taped up and those who were not taped up. This article describes that taping has no input to proprioception and does not assist in its recovery, and provides an argument against the statement that taping helps proprioception.
After further research the author came across another article on taping relating to proprioception. This article by (Robbins, Waked and Rappel, 1995), describes that ankle taping in young men does improve their proprioception before and after activity performing. The article goes on to explain that taping techniques improves the slight corrections needed for their proprioceptive input, it also goes onto explain that correct footwear is also the reason that some may have poor proprioception, therefore occurring injuries can be a problem due to non-education of correct footwear.
After reviewing more research another article by, (Guy G. Simoneau, 1997) explains that, the use of tape on a non-weight bearing injury does allow for more movement of the ankle joint and will assist in the proprioception input required for rehabilitation.
Taping assists in proprioceptive rehabilitation programmes to help support and assist injuries sustained this was backed up MacDonald (2010) explaining that tape protects and supports injured structures in pain free positions during activity, proprioceptive programmes.
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After a lot of thought and research the author believes that taping techniques does improve the proprioception of the ankle joint. Being taught on the taping techniques block by a taping expert and gaining more information on the pros rather than the cons, the author believes that the use of taping techniques within rehabilitation does have proprioceptive input, especially in lower limb joints after injury.
Objective 2 – Figure out if taping provides support for injured structures during rehabilitation
In rehabilitation injured structures will need to be supported in order for repair and recovery. Taping is one way that this can be utilized to help injured structures. From physiotherapist A, see appendix D, they believe that some certain taping techniques can support certain joint stability after injury. They also go on to explain that more recent injuries require compression to limit bleeding, rather than stability.
When training to return to sport, both tapes have their advantages within rehabilitation, when structures like muscles and bones are injured they are in need of care, when using traditional tapes like zinc oxide and elastic adhesive bandage these are more effective when trying to compress an injury to decrease the pain and swelling within the area. When using Kinesio tape these work over the muscles and bones allowing to work in a pain free functional position and allows continuation of play with little to no pain.
When using traditional tapes in rehabilitation MacDonald (2010) explains that their role is to hold dressing and pads in place, compress recent injury as already mentioned, protect from further injury and to limit unwanted joint movement. When in rehabilitation especially in the early stage you will have to protect the injury with compression to reduce the swelling with this also protecting from further injury with the use of tape or pads so that you minimize the chance of another injury occurring.
When in rehabilitation you need to limit unwanted joint movement so that athletes can train in pain free zones. When using traditional tape, it does its job to support injured structures and protect injuries from further damage.
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When using Kinesio tape in rehabilitation (Gibbons, 2014) explains that there are 4 main benefits for the application of Kinesio tape, normalisation of muscular function; this allows muscles to function normally in pain free positions while being able to perform. Increased vascular and lymphatic flow; through the elimination of bleeding beneath the skin. Reduction of pain, while still being able to perform.
Correction of possible joint misalignment; by the moving of muscles and soft tissue structures while tape is applied. In rehabilitation Kinesio style tape will care for structures protecting them from further damage.
According to (Heweston and Austin, 2010) they explain that during a rehabilitation programme to assist in the recovery of the injured structure use a mnemonic that helps to determine whether or not that a treatment for an injured structure was successful or not. That mnemonic is SUPPORT.
Swelling must be controlled while dealing with an injury,
Undue stress must be prevented to the injured structure,
Protection of the injury to prevent further damage,
Pain and discomfort must be minimized,
Optimal healing and repair is enhanced through correct procedures and application,
Rehabilitation of the soft tissue to full functional fitness in the quickest safest way,
Therapeutic care in the early stage for a more efficient recovery.
After going through all the information gathered the author believes taping techniques provide support for injuries during rehabilitation; we learned on the taping course that taping does provide stability for lower limb structures that have been injured while competing and provide mobility for upper limbs that were injured allowing pain free mobility. There has been no research found to suggest that taping does not assist in recovery during rehabilitation therefore there is no argument for this one point.
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Objective 3 – What tapes are more commonly used in the rehabilitation programme to assist recovery for the bodies’ structures?
During the taping techniques block in the HND sports therapy course the author had the opportunity to use three types of tapes, zinc oxide, elastic adhesive bandage and Kinesio. The reason for using these three alone was that they are the most commonly used tapes for sporting injuries.
Upon reading an article by (Keil, 2012), the journal had shown a table comparing types of tape, their elasticity, and how long they can be worn for. For the traditional tapes: zinc oxide is inelastic, and is only applied and removed before and after activity. For elastic adhesive bandage, they are elastic and can go to more than 30% of their original length and can be worm form 48 hours to 7 days at a time. For Kinesio tape it can go to 140% more than its original length and can be worm from 5 mins to 10 days. This shows that Kinesio would be good to use in a programme that would allow full functional movement. Were as the zinc oxide is good for before and after sporting activity. The elastic adhesive bandage can be used in a programme as it restricts painful movement and can correct biomechanical faults.
Physiotherapist A explains that they use all types of tape on an injured athlete. They explain though that they tend to shift more towards using traditional methods than the Kinesio tape but explains that they both have their place, depending on the injury. They also explain that if it is a stability or proprioception problem they tend to use the zinc oxide tape to hold structures down. They also tend to use Kinesio to assist the myofascial structures – see appendix D.
Through the use of researching tapes that will be used and shown tapes on the taping block, the author can conclude that all types of tape are effective in a rehabilitation programme. To help the bodies’ structures all tapes do similar roles that can help, traditional tape is good for the early stage of rehabilitation to decrease the swelling of an injury and to protect the injured area from further injury. With Kinesio it is effective in rehabilitation as it allows the athletes to perform in a pain free range while protecting the structures during performance.
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Arising Problems
Throughout the writing of this report the author had encountered a few problems. The author believes that the objectives were still achieved to produce a credible report.
The problems that arisen were, not a lot of replies from physiotherapists or doctors to pass as primary information, therefore the author had to use a lot of secondary information from websites, books and journals from the City of Glasgow College library. More secondary information was used but it is high quality information as the journals passed forward are peer reviewed journals by experts of the field.
The author had only sent out 10 questionnaires to physiotherapists and doctors and it only produced 1 reply from a physiotherapist. The reply was quite vague and did not feature a lot of information, so therefore had to use more secondary information also. The ideal procedure would have been to send out more questionnaires.
Due to these arising problems the author had to turn to journals/books and websites and still managed to get a whole host of information to produce a credible report.
Conditions of the brief met
In the planning stage the author mentioned that the main aim of this report was to discover if taping techniques is a good form of rehabilitation.
The author believes that they have met the aim and three objectives that were set out at the beginning of the planning stage. As explained the main aim was to discover if taping is a good form of rehabilitation.
The author believes that they have met this aim as through the writing of this report and completing research and picking up knowledge from the taping course, the author believes that taping is a good method of rehabilitation as the use of taping allows in the early/middle stage for swelling to be reduced and pain to be decreased and specific tape such as Kinesio helps to play on in pain free functional movements. In the late stage tape allows the body to move freely in pain free positions while still protecting the injured area without causing further damage.
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Objective 1 – the author’s first objective was to find out whether or not taping assists in the recovery of proprioception. The author believes that through the thorough investigation into this objective, has concluded that tape does assist in the recovery of proprioception when in the early stage of rehabilitation.
Objective 2 – the author’s second objective was to figure out if taping provides support for injured structures during rehabilitation. Through the investigation the author believes that taping does support injured structures during rehabilitation such as lower leg tapings help with stability and upper limb tapings assist in restoration of the mobility.
Objective 3 – the author’s third objective was to discover what tapes are more commonly used in the rehabilitation programme to assist recovery for the bodies’ structures. Through the research the author has discovered that the commonly used tapes, zinc oxide, elastic adhesive bandage and kinesio tape all play a role while in rehabilitation to help protect the bodies’ structures.
Conclusion
Concluding this report the author’s main aim is to understand why taping is a good method of rehabilitation to be used on injured athletes and through vigorous research and investigation the author believes that they have met this aim. The author now understand that taping techniques are a good form of rehabilitation as tape can help to support injured structures and prevent further injury while in recover mode. The author also believes that all three objectives were met; the author believes that taping does have a proprioceptive input while in rehabilitation; the author also agrees that tape does support injured structures and provide the support needed and finally the author has a now more detailed understanding of what tapes are used in rehabilitation thanks to physiotherapist A, and the taping expert in the taping course. In final the author believes that taping is an important method of rehabilitation that has had some holes poked around it, although in the end it gives athletes the help they require while returning to play and working in a rehabilitation programme.