Mountain Ice for Athletic Trainers: How Kinesiology Tape and Mountain Ice Sports Recovery Gel Can Improve Muscle Recovery

A common sight for athletic trainers is athletes kinesiology tape along their shoulders or legs. While athletic or strapping tape is a time-tested practice in sports medicine, kinesiology tape is unlike rigid, traditional athletic tape. Instead it's flexible and elastic, allowing for dynamic support and a larger range of motion while only requiring application directly over or around an injured joint or muscle group. And it works well in conjunction with Mountain Ice Pain Relief Gel and Sports Recovery Gel to stabilize and soothe injured muscle and joint tissue for improved recovery.

The Benefits of Kinesiology Tape

1. Pain Relief

By supporting weak or injured muscle groups or joints, kinesiology tape reduces pain while still allowing an injured part to function and move with a dynamic range of motion. In this way it helps build muscle strength while helping to keep muscles protected from injury.

Beyond this, by relieving pressure in an injured area and its nerve receptors, kinesiology tape is thought to slow or diminish the pain signals sent to the brain. By relieving this pressure, it may also reduce painful muscle spasms.

2. Reduced Swelling

The elastic properties of the tape are thought to have a vacuum effect, lifting skin away from swollen tissue and allowing for easier drainage of excess fluid in a bruised area as well as increased blood flow. Due to this, its usefulness has even been investigated in managing scar tissue.

3. Muscle Support

Kinesiology tape provides injured joints and muscles with support that doesn't require limiting their movement. Its vacuum effect is thought to increase the space for muscle contraction, increasing blood flow and reducing muscle fatigue.

In addition, many athletes use it to increase their proprioception, or their awareness of their own body's movement. It's thought that by acting on the sensory nervous system's awareness of your skin and the underlying muscles and joints, it increases your body's awareness of its own movements and allows for intuitive correction of poor form or posture. After injuries, this may help realign joints or correct muscle imbalances stemming from muscle loss during inactivity.

Uses for Kinesiology Tape

Athletes, physical trainers, and many others have used kinesiology tape for a variety of purposes. Among them are:

• Acute soft tissue injuries: increased healing rate in bruising, muscle strains, or ligament sprains.
• Muscle strengthening: reducing muscle fatigue and increasing muscle tone.
• Post-fracture support.
• Reducing joint swelling.
• Reducing swelling in tendonpathies and fasciopathies: tendonitis, plantar fascitis.
• Pain relief and reducing swelling in systemic conditions: Rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, lupus, and fibromyalgia.

Pain Relief and Muscle Recovery to Keep You Active

Whether you're a regular athlete or becoming active again, you're bound to deal with aches and pains from exercise. Kinesiology tape is a great resource, but it's not the only product that can boost muscle recovery. We've got a Mountain Ice variety to reduce your muscle and joint pain and keep you on your feet regardless of your activity level:

• Pain Relief Gel: The perfect blend of rich ingredients formulated to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, improve circulation, and promote better nerve and joint healing.
• Sports Recovery Gel: Our unique formula relieves pain, reduces swelling, prevents muscle spasms, and speeds up recovery from exertion, while enhancing performance and longevity.

Please consult with your doctor or other qualified healthcare professional before stopping or starting any medication, supplements, or beginning a health regimen.