Tape Em Up, And Send Em Back In!

The first time I saw this stuff, I was a bit skeptical, actually I asked Brian the PT who was helping me, if he had any of this stuff, with half moons and stars printed on it. He had talked about taping me, I had never heard of such a thing, couldn’t figure how my shoulder injury would be helped by this. I had a couple months of pain, some hardware fell about 20′ onto my AC joint, when the tape went on, the pain was gone. It was immediate, Brian said it didn’t work for everyone, he was pleased how it worked for me. What takes place under the skin, occurs on the membrane, that lies between the mussel, and the skin, similar to the white membrane, one would see on a piece of uncooked chicken. My landlord calls it voodoo tape, I’ve told him about it, he’s seen it on me, he wants nothing to do with it. It is based on kinesiology, the product name is kinesio tex. It is an elastic tape, from the information I have, you do not stretch it, instead, you stretch out, as much as you can, the affected area. As mussels and tendons are fully stretched, you lay the tape down, good to get rid of any hair, continue sticking the tape, creating friction on the surface, creating heat, assuring a good bond. When you go back to a neutral position, the tape is working, the action of the tape, whenever you are moving, increases circulation, increasing blood flow to the injured muscles. I love this stuff , actually, a six inch strip, across a slow thinkers forehead, could work wonders. If you think back, in China, at the Olympics, there were athletes, with large black patches on their skin, I saw it on volleyball players shoulders, I saw them using it on knees, the Williams Sisters, sometimes are taped, and a lot was being used, on the job I was on, at Hollywood and Vine. It took some effort, I went to HY Pharmacy on Santa Monica Blvd, just West of Western, spoke with a guy named Gary, told him about this stuff, I asked if he could order it. He was able to get the three inch tape, I like the three inch best, you can cut half the length into one inch strips, laying the three inch section across a large muscle, moving the one inch sections across smaller muscles. An example of this, would be the three inch section, across the upper back, with the one inch sections, starting at the top of the shoulder, taping across the deltoid, tricep, and bicep. When you lay the tape down, it doesn’t have to be straight, it will turn a corner, what is important is not to stretch the tape, just your body. A guy I’m working with now, had a little problem, I had gone to Hy Pharmacy, starting back working, after ten months off, had me feeling a bit tender. What they were stocking was one inch tape, already I used the roll of black,and had just started in on the blue. In the early 90s, I was involved with Russians, dancers, artists, and such. There were times my Father would meet flights, coming in from Moscow, at Kennedy, shuttling these Russians back to Old City, Philadelphia. We would send Dad, off on these missions, dressed in Pink pants, telling the Russians flying in, what to look for coming out of Customs. Two things about pink, 1- a man in pink pants is easily spotted in any crowd, 2- pink on a man almost always sparks spirited conversation, to this day, in my family, a lot of laughter goes on, recalling these times. Bottom line, a man needs a certain level of confidence, walking around in pink. So the point is, I gave the remainder of the blue tape to my Brother Carpenter on the job, leaving the pink tape for myself. The 3″ and 2″ were flesh colored, I had heard there was some thought that color had an effect on the healing, I don’t think this is why Hy Pharmacy stocks the colored, I asked Gary if he could get some of the old three inch. He told me the product moved well, a lot of people coming in, from my old job and gym.