What is a soft tissue injury?
Soft tissues include ligaments, tendons, nerves, fascia, and muscles. Muscle account for the most “active” portion of soft tissues. While ligaments, tendons, nerves and fascia are primarily support structures for the muscles, internal organs, and skeleton, the muscles are part of the system to facilitate active movement. It is possible to sustain damage to the soft tissue of the muscles due to an acute injury, overuse, or overstretching of the muscles. Injuries to muscle include overstretching, leading to strained movement; accumulation of inflammation and scar tissue, inhibiting movement; and tears to the muscle fibers, leading to more damage as movement continues.
What is kinesiotape?
Kinesiotape, otherwise known as K-Tape, is elastic therapeutic tape that is used to promote muscle stability and selectively facilitate or inhibit muscle firing. K-Tape is about as thick as the epidermis, the topmost layer of the skin, and it mimics the elasticity of the epidermis. The flexibility of K-Tape allows for selectively promoted or restricted movement of the muscles depending on where the tape is applied. K-Tape is latex free with heat activated adhesive.
How chiropractic care can help.
Each of the chiropractors at SF Custom Chiropractic is a trained professional who can apply kinesiotape with efficiency to target the muscle groups most in need of it. The chiropractor screens the patient and observes any muscular asymmetries, weaknesses, or deficiencies. A chiropractic adjustment may be used to relieve tightness in the muscles and about a joint, but treatment of the soft tissue with K-Tape can be used to address injuries to the muscles. K-Tape promotes healing of the muscle fibers by restricting movement that will further tear and damage the soft tissue and promoting movement that will strengthen the muscle group. K-Tape also increases lymphatic drainage, improves proprioception and increases neuromuscular efficiency.