IASTM and Taping
At Jarrow Chiropractic, we successfully use soft tissue techniques such as IASTM and Kinesio Taping.
Soft tissue means muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and connective tissue that are found throughout your body. We find, alongside Chiropractic adjustment, using soft tissue techniques can assist in symptom reduction (less pain), better movement and accelerated recovery (you get well faster!).
IASTM is short for Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilisation. We use specific tools made of stainless steel with bevelled edges and contours that can conform to different shaped structures in the body. We use these in a stroke like pattern on injured structures to assist in recovery and restoration of healthy tissue. It's a safe, effective way to provide better outcomes for patients.
Kinesio Taping is a method of using a cotton elasticated tape applied directly to the skin to reduce symptoms. You may have seen it on athletes as it is often brightly coloured (for no particular reason!).
How it works is complicated. All of the effects of kinesiology tape came from the mechanical and neurosensory actions of the tape. When kinesiology tape is placed on the skin, some clever things start to happen. Because of the stretchiness of the tape, it mechanically lifts and, in some cases, compresses the skin it is applied to. When you consider a cross-section of human skin and the underlying tissues, you see that each layer of tissue is connected to one beneath it through slips of tissue often referred to as, "skin ligaments." Because of this, if you create a lifting effect with tape on the skin, this effect transfers to deeper layers, effectively decompressing the tissues beneath where the tape is applied. This can help with decompression of injured, painful tissue, assisting with pain reduction and better movement.
