Kinesio Foundations Course Day 1

Sports Solutions hosted Day 1 of the Kinesio Foundations Course today. We have occupational therapists, physiotherapists, a medical doctor, a yoga instructor in our class this time.

With Dr Sangita and Sarah

Stay tuned for Day 2 tomorrow where there is a bigger emphasis on the Kinesio Medical Taping section instead of just the Kinesio Taping Methods where muscles, joint and tendons were the main focus. 

Some of the techniques include the Space Correction and webcut applications for bruising and swelling. We will also do the EDF (epidermis, dermis and fascia) and jellyfish taping. 

None of the other brands of tape have any of those techniques mentioned above.

Day 1 Of Kinesio Foundations Course

Sports Solutions hosted Day 1 of the Kinesio Foundations Course today. It's been quite a few years since we have had this course. During that course, we had 2 participants from Saudi Arabia. 

This time it's all local with 15 participants. We have 4 medical doctors, 1 dentist, 1 occupational therapist with physiotherapists rounding out the rest.

The course is now a two day in person course with a 4 hour online pre course. Compared to the 2 previous versions of the course, there is now a much bigger emphasis on the Kinesio Medical Taping section instead of just the Kinesio Taping Methods where muscles, joint and tendons were the main focus. 

Here are some of the pictures from today.

Stay tuned for Day 2 tomorrow.

Kinesio Taping Instructor Recertification (CKTI) In Bangkok

I have not taught any Kinesio taping courses since 2019 in Malaysia, just before Covid-19 struck. In fact, the last course I taught in Singapore was in August 2018.

Kinesio Taping Association International needs our licence as a CKTI (certified Kinesio Taping Instructor) to be renewed  every 3 years to be able to teach again. There was an online recertification during the Covid years in 2021 which I attended, but due to the many rules in place I did not teach since then.

So I chose to come to the recertification in Bangkok since Alburqurque (held in October 2024) and Barcelona (January 2025) were much further away.

There was a memorial for Dr Kenso Kase (who passed away in August 2024) and Jim Wallis (December 2024) (a very senior instructor) at the event to honour them.

The course has definitely evolved. It is now called the Kinesio Foundations course (over 2 days) and we spent a lot of time (pictured below) over the last 2 days learning how to teach the new syllabus.

Sports Solutions will definitely be teaching the new Kinesio Foundations course. They will be held on 21st to 22nd June. Here's the link to sign up.

With Elisa Kase

Can A Bit Of Tape Rotate Leg Bones?

Unlike others in the picture above who are skeptical and think that leg bones cannot be rotated with "a bit of tape" in 2022,  I remain open to finding out how to treat our patients with knee pain. 

Just because I cannot ride a unicycle does not mean others cannot. Similarly if the author above cannot rotate his / her patient's leg with "a bit of tape" does not mean others can't.

We do see many patients in our clinics presenting with knee pain. Even though we have very good results treating these cases, I am always on the look out on how to get these patients with knee pain better quicker. Especially those who run.

In our clinics, we almost never tape the patient's knee, especially if the cause of their knee pain is coming from elsewhere. In fact, we do not even use rigid sports tape when we do tape the patient's knee.

Using Kinesio tape compared to using rigid sports tapes to do McConnell taping, (first published in 'Physiotherapy' journal in 1986 by Australian physiotherapist Jenny McConnell) definitely produces a superior result.  

So I was really intrigued when I saw a paper that investigated the effects of using rigid sports tape for tibial internal rotation taping (IRT) and external rotation taping (ERT) done on subjects with patellofemoral pain syndrome (knee pain) during three functional tests. During double leg squat, single leg squat and maximum isometric thigh muscle contraction.

Internal rotation taping

The researchers found that compared to no taping, both IRT and ERT significantly reduced pain during the three tests, especially for those with higher pain levels initially.

External rotation taping

ERT was found to be more effective than IRT. Why? The authors did not provide any suggestions. My thoughts are that when you externally rotate your tibial (shin bone), you can activate your gluteus medius better. Remember, one of our most popular posts shows that the cause of patients' knee pain is usually coming from the hip.

To see if the two taping techniques work, let me try the ERT and IRT techniques on my colleagues in our clinics first before I unleash them on our patients. Bear in mind we still want to treat the cause of the problem and not just the pain itself.

Reference

Deng F, Adams R, Pranata A et al (2022). Tibial Internal And External Rotation Taping For Improving Pain In Patients With Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome. J Sci Med Sp. DOI: 10/1016/jsams.202204.003

*thanks to Byron and Megan for helping me with the photos

PS Sim Finishes 200 Miles Race

Picture from PS Sim

Yes, you read correctly, PS Sim is the first and only finisher (male or female) so far in the 2021 Singapore 200 Miles Ultramarathon held from 6-9 August by Running Guild. She finished in an amazing 76 hours and 41 minutes!!

She came to see me last Thursday (5/8/21) for one last tune up as she had some knee pain. After treating her, she asked if I could do some taping for her. Since the cause of her knee pain was coming from her hip, I taped her left hip (instead of her left knee) and she was pain free through out the run. Have a look at the whatsapp message she sent me yesterday below.

She even offered to write me a testimonial for the Kinesio taping that I did for her. For all the naysayers who do not believe  that Kinesio taping works, the proof is in the pudding - or rather in PS Sim's legs! 

Now, I have nothing against all the published articles that say Kinesio taping does not work. And there are many healthcare professionals who do not believe in it. However, if the researchers have never learnt to do the actual Kinesio taping correctly, or used different brands/ types of tape, then I would humbly suggest that their research methodology may be flawed. 

Similarly, if I never learnt for example, Alexander technique, and I try it on my patients and end up with poor results, surely it is then unfair for me to say it does not work.

Anyway this post is not about Kinesio taping, this post is to congratulate PS Sim on a run super well done on Singapore's 56th National day! 

She has next set her sights on completing the last mountain she needs to summit before she scales the highest peaks on all 7 continents in Antarctica this coming December. After Team Singapore's outing at the recent Tokyo Olympics, there were calls for the private sector to step up and support sports in Singapore. We have always done that and we will continue to do so. Sports Solutions will be wishing her all the best and supporting her.

She has next set her sights on completing the last mountain she needs to summit before she scales the highest peaks on all 7 continents in Antarctica this coming December. After Team Singapore's outing at the recent Tokyo Olympics, there were calls for the private sector to step up and support sports in Singapore. We have always done that and we will continue to do so. Sports Solutions will be wishing her all the best and supporting her.

Still Using Kinesio Tapes Even If Research Paper Says They Aren't Useful?

I saw two patients with badly sprained ankles this past week. The first patient was hobbling while shuffling on one foot. I definitely made both of them better. And I used Kinesio tape as part of my treatment to help with the swelling. So I was very surprised when a systematic review and meta-analysis found that Kinesio taping did not improve ankle function or performance in people with ankle injuries.

A systematic review meta analysis is a search aided by computer looking for all randomized and clinically controlled studies while meta analysis means using statistics to combine the data derived from a systematic review. So the published review is not an article to scoff at.

However, I looked through the supplementary material, and the tapes used were of course of different brands, different taping techniques were used, and it included different types of ankle injuries. Some of the taping were done on the calf muscles, some around the ankle joint, while others taped the Achilles tendon. In my opinion, that would not be fair as different brands of tape would have been compared, there were different conditions, and different techniques were implemented. Not to mention that not everyone would have learnt how to tape appropriately since there are different brands of tape. It would be similar to comparing apples to oranges.

Some of the studies

Note to self. Even if it's a systematic review or meta analysis, make sure you read everything and not just the title and the conclusion. 

As clinicians, we would never just use Kinesio tape or any tape alone just to treat a patient. For the two patients mentioned above, we would never get optimal results just using tape on them. We use our hands to assess, mobilize and/ or manipulate their ankles, while others may use needles, ice, tape or even modalities to treat their patients. Others might teach exercises to get their patients better.

Should we stop using Kinesio tapes? Definitely not. If we use them correctly, they definitely work. Have a look at another of my patient after I use the original Kinesio tapes for just five hours. Scroll down to see more evidence.

Surely you can see the outline of the Kinesio tape

Reference

Nunes GS, Feldkircher JM, Tessarin BM et al (2020). Kinesio Taping Does Not Improve Ankle Functional Or Performance In People With Or Without Ankle Injuries: Systematic Review And Meta-analysis. Clinc Rehabil. DOI: 10.1177/0269215520963846

In the picture below is a patient with a hamstring tear.

Here's how his hamstring looked like 3 days later in the picture below. I have lots more photos like these in my phone of my patients. Contact me if you're still skeptical, I'll show you all the photos from my phone if you like to see them. 

3 days later

Job Done

It was raining cats and dogs this morning when we returned for Day 2 of the re-certification of the Kinesio Taping Instructors course. This was the last re-certification course available for this period for Instructors as there had already been courses in Albuquerque, Prague and in Brazil in the past 2 months.

Being the model for Graceann

The other Instructors present had become familiar faces and we discussed different teaching strategies. It was good for me to meet the other Instructors in Asia as previously I'd only done the re-certification courses in Albuquerque and Venice. We watched some videos and had the practical sessions to clear our doubts.

Getting my cert from Graceann

My 2 students before and now fellow Instructors

Well, my certification will qualify me to teach for the next 3 years til end 2020. And the next course I'll be teaching will be at Sports Solutions on 3rd-4th February 2018. You can sign up for the February course here.

Next course will be on June 16th-17th 2018.

Here's my cert

Day 1 Of Kinesio Taping Instructors Recertification (CKTI) In Hong Kong

Study time

3 years have gone by since Venice and here I am in Hong Kong doing my Kinesio Taping re-certification for Instructors. This is my 3rd re-certification after Albuquerque in 2011 and Venice in 2014.

My name tag

Dr Kenso Kase was unfortunately not present this time and since there are some changes to the course, we spent the whole day with Dr Graceann Forrester (who originally certified me as an Instructor in 2010) going through the new slides while sharing some laughs of course.

Going through the slides with Graceann

Graceann did a really good job explaining the new slides and changes.

Graceann at the break

Stay tuned for day 2 of the Instructors re-certification.

How Your Hips Are Connected To Your Shoulders

Yes, our shoulders are connected to our hips! Definitely if you refer to work done by Tom Myers in his Anatomy Trains book.

If you look at the picture above, you can see that the right Vastus Lateralis (outer thigh muscles) through its fascial attachments are linked to the buttocks then through the thoracolumbar fascia across to the opposite (left) rib cage, shoulder and arm.

If I say it simply, it means your Vastus Lateralis actually attach to your arms! Or if I put it in a different way, your arms don't end at your arms. They end at your legs.

Another look at the connection

So supposing you have a rotated/ and or unstable pelvis (or hip), this can affect your shoulder and change the biomechanics in your shoulders and cause pain.

So in order to treat your shoulder pain, I'm not really crazy if I assess your hips before I look at your shoulder.

Just ask Bertrand, without really assessing his shoulder pain, I made his shoulder better just by taping his hip. 

Now when you come and see us in our clinics, you know why we look at your hips first if you have shoulder pain.

Learning To Use The Floss Band

Floss Bands made bySanctband

I was invited by Jane Fong and Danny Ho from Sanctband to attend the Flossing workshop in Ipoh, Malaysia taught by a German physiotherapist, Sven Kruse.

Prior to this I've never heard of Floss Bands before. But Jane and Danny from Sanctband got me interested after telling me what the bands can do. Used correctly, they can decrease pain and increase joint range of motion, especially by altering the fascia. (Sounds like Kinesio Taping to me)!

In fact in the USA, they are also known as Voodoo bands and are extremely popular among CrossFitters. Other than being a good marketing ploy by enticing people into trying them out by calling it Voodoo bands, Danny told me it was also because no one seemed to understand how they work so well - almost like "Black Magic".

The Floss bands are supposed to be able to help decrease pain and increase mobility/ range of motion in your joints. Now, that will definitely help our patients.

It is also suggested that it can be helpful in breaking up adhesions in our fascia (connective tissue) by re-perfusing tissues and by compressing the swelling out of joints to restore joint mechanics.

With Sven Kruse

Let me practise what I've learnt and I'll write another post shortly. Stay tuned.

Muscle Wasting Occurs Quickly

Check out the difference in size.

Have a look at my patient's legs in the picture above. See the difference in size? Can you guess how quickly it happened?

My patient fell while skiing in Japan and the doctor there said she tore her medial collateral ligament (MCL). She was prescribed crutches, a huge brace and came back in a wheelchair.

There was definite swelling around her knee and I taped it to reduce the swelling of course and promptly taught her how to walk without the crutches and wheelchair.

2 days. that's how quickly the muscle atrophy took place.

Later an MRI confirmed she tore her MCL as well as her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) as well.

Treating Bertrand's Hip Made His Shoulder Better

Other than treating patients, I like teaching too (sometimes). To make sure I can answer all the questions I get, I need to put in extra effort to keep myself updated and it keeps me on my toes. I always like to keep improving myself.

Now that I probably cannot become a better athlete, I channel my energy to try to make my patients better quicker. I want to teach better too, plus I get to meet course participants in the process.

Spending time explaining biotensegrity

And we do have foreign participants as well from Indonesia (Sports doctor) and from Malaysia of course. Even Elaine from Tunku Abdul Rahman University College who previously attended my Introduction to Kinesio Taping course in Malaysia came for this course.

Elaine in her Cleopatra pose today

Check this out, I found a picture of Elaine from nearly two years ago when I taught the Introduction to Kinesio Taping course in Malaysia.

Here's Elaine in the same pose in KL in November 2013

Here's the practical that threw everyone off. After explaining "biotensegrity" and the "onion tree" model, I demonstrated how treating Betrand's hip made his shoulder better????

Taping Bertrand's hip

And making his shoulder better

Stay tuned for tomorrow's KT 2.

Kinesio Taping Instructor Recertification (CKTI) In Venice

Kinesio Taping Association International rules are that your licence (as an Kinesio Taping Instructor) to teach is valid only for 3 years and thereafter you have be re-certified to be able to teach again.

So here I am doing my Kinesio Instructor Recertification course in Venice over the next few days.

The man himself - Dr Kenso Kase

Some updates, Dr Kase taught us the EDF (dermis, epidermis and fascia) taping 3 years ago in Albuquerque, he spent more time on that today. Latest news is that EDF taping will be a critical component in all upcoming Kinesio Taping courses. Yes, they are looking a fairly big overhaul at teaching future KT 1,2 and 3 courses.

EDF taping

3 years ago with Trish Martin in Albuquerque

Also went through the Jellyfish concept for KT 3 courses.

Jellyfish cut

Another look at the Jellyfish

With Da Man himself

Treating A Muscle Tear

Here's more proof that Kinesio tapes if used correctly helps with a muscle tear. Have a look at my patient's hamstring injury from the pictures below.

This is the picture he sent me before he came to see me in the clinic.

Check out the muscle tear

After treating his back as well as his hamstring, I put some of the original Kinesio Tex tapes and here's another picture 3 days later.

How's that for improvement 3 days later

Well, I rest my case, for those of you with muscle tears, make sure the person treating you is using the original Kinesio Tex tapes, because the copy cat/ imitation tapes simply cannot compete.

Also have a look on how to treat your hamstring injuries.

Teaching At Ang Mo Kio - Thye Hua Kwan Hopsital

After seeing patients at Sports Solutions in the morning today, I made my way to Ang Mo Kio - Thye Hua Kwan Hospital.

What's the occasion? AMK - Thye Hua Kwan hospital is a geriatric and rehabilitative care hospital and I hardly see any neurological (stroke, Parkinson's, Alzeimer'setc) patients, some of you must be thinking.

Well, the head of their Physiotherapy department, Catherine had requested that I hold a special session for her and her team to teach the staff there the basics of Kinesio Taping.

So I drew up a list of concepts and techniques specially for them. Here are some pictures taken from the session.

What's the commotion?

Let's retest after taping

Gently does it

A group shot minus the Irish boys.

Well, it's a brand new year and more teaching beckons.