Kinesiotaping applications.

Understanding the human body. Basically kinesiotape works from the outside of the body to the inside because the human body is made up of three layers during the embryologic developments. The 3 layers that are noticed during the embryologic development are the endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm. The endoderm comprises the lining of the cavities and passages of the body and the covering of most of the internal organs such as the epithelium from the liver, GI, lungs, pancreas, anal canal among others. The following layer is the mesoderm this is the middle layer from and it derives to bone, connective tissue, muscle, blood vessels, and lymphatic tissue. The outermost layer compromises the epidermis and epidermic tissues, such as the nails, hair, and glands of the skin, the nervous system, external sense organs and mucous membrane of the mouth and anus. As you can see the human body is interconnected as a whole through all these 3 layers and we are unable to separate them when using or applying a therapeutic modality such as kinesiotape.

What is the Kinesio-Multi layer Concept? Did you know that the largest sensing organ in the human body is the SKIN. From left to right we can see how on this picture the application of kinesio tape could affect the underlying structures of the skin. When kinesio tape is applied to the skin this result into an increase in space of the dermis. Why is this important? This is an important mechanism that occurs because in the dermis we find different sensory organs that modulate pain such as the lymph vessels, blood vessel, neural receptors and lymphatic fluid. Simply, if by increasing the space in the dermis we are directly decreasing the pressure of the aforementioned structures. In turn, facilitating the healing process of the human body.

What is the fascia? The fascia is thin layer/gel that surrounds and interconnects different structures of the human body. The fascia is located in different area of the body such as muscles, blood vessels, nerves, among others. The beauty of this structure is that allows free motion during movement and sliding between structures reducing the friction. There have been different types of fascia identified from superficial, deep (muscle) fascia, to visceral (organs) and the have been named according to their different locations in the human body. The picture below of a Fascia man is a funny picture how the fascia is interconnected throughout the human body. We are unable to isolate it from the rest of the body resulting into the different fascia lines in the human body.

One example, that I would share with you from fascia related injuries (low back pain) could come from the Sacrotuberuous ligament (ST ligament). What about the ST ligament? The ST ligament connects the bicep femoris, the ribs/upper trunk through the ST ligament, the erector spinae aponeurosis and the iliocostalis thoracis. In addition, it has been shown that the biceps femoris will transfers forces to the ST ligement even when there is not anatomical attachment. To finish, when there is force going through the biceps femoris results into displacement of the deep lamina of the posterior layers of the thoracolumbar fascia up to the level of L5-S1 via the ST ligament. Moreover, the deep lamina is connected to the superficial lamina of the thoracolumbar fascia affecting part of the trunk (Latissimus dorsi) all of this thourgh the fascia connection of the St ligament.

Here I will provide you with different links related to fascia: http://www.anatomytrains.com/explore/tensegrity One of the pioneers in fascia and tensegrity. http://youtu.be/_FtSP-tkSug this is great video to see how the fascia is located in our human body. How could I affect the muscle function? Its important to understand the length/tension relationship of the muscle in order to use the appropriate application of the kinesio tape. Over your left hand you can see how the muscle Sarcomere (fibers myosin-actin) are packed together due to an over activation of the muscle. On the other hand, all the way to your right we have a muscle that have been overstretched myosin and actin fibers are not close together for an appropriate contraction of the muscle. In either case, there are different applications that could be used in order to address these muscular impairments. Remember both cases an over excited and over stretched muscle are consider weak due to the length/tension relationship theory.

How could Kinesio tape facilitate the removal of excess fluid? Lymph nodes are localized in the body strategically to help facilitate the removal of waste from the bloodstream. Also, the lymph nodes help in the distribution white blood cells that fight against any foreign body that enters the human system. Also, some applications from kinesiotape could promote the removal of waste, joint effusion or swelling has been noticed in any patient/client. Placing the KT tape towards the major lymph nodes in the body will facilitate this. In summary kinesio tape could be facilitate: Decreased inflammation Reduces pain Stabilization Fascia correction Facilitate proper movementand more. By Carlos Jimenez DPT, CSCS, PES.