I recently received this Kinesio tape for reviewing. I was super excited to try this. I have Fibro, and arthritis, so I deal with Chronic pain on a daily basis. My husband works in the oil fields and deals with tired and over stressed muscles all the time.
Kinesiology tape is supposed to help relieve pain in your sore joints and muscles. It’s supposed to help detour you from traditional taping (if you’re a sportster). It’s also been known to help speed up recovery after surgery. I’ve read in several places that this tape can be worn for 5-ish days as well. Which is awesome.
The tape, to me, feels like a bandaid. It’s made out of the stretchy bandaid like material, and sticks just as well. VERY sticky! Also, it is one continuous roll. The paper backing on the tape roll, has lines, to help guide you while cutting to size. This is great in my opinion, and totally helped with cutting it the way I needed to.
When I received this, I was a bit disappointed. There was no instructions, or tips what so ever with the package. Not to let that detour me from using it, I called my doctor, who told me I could look up videos on YouTube to find out where/how to apply this for what pain.
We did just that. My husband deals with SEVERE pain in his rotator cuff, so that is what we searched videos for. I found several, and they were all very easy. They showed how to cut the tape, approximately how long each piece should be, and how to apply it for maximum relief. There are certain points to attach the end to, and you are supposed to stretch it a certain amount, and stick it to a specific part, depending on what you are applying the tape for. For his rotator cuff issues, I found that he was supposed to have it up the length of his upper arm, and around his shoulder, as well as across his upper arm. (see photo)
So we watched the video, as I measured and cut the tape. Pausing as we went, and watching more to apply the tape etc. I stretched it as they said, ran it the direction it was supposed to be. We got it all applied, and waited to see what happened.
This DID NOT provide instant relief as stated in the advertising. In fact even after wearing for 24 hours, this provided NO RELIEF AT ALL. We were both very disappointed with the results. It was more annoying than anything according to my husband. Not to mention, even though it is very sticky (and even though we followed all directions I found online), this didn’t stick well on the ends. It kept wanting to peel up, and we kept having to push it down. Again, NO RELIEF AT ALL.
So after 24 hours of wearing this with ZERO relief my husband got tired of pushing the ends down and dealing with the annoyance, and we decided to remove it. I pulled on the end of the tape, and he said it felt like it was ripping his skin off, on the parts where it actually stuck well. So we tried fast, and that was worse. Therefore I started working it off following with a wet rag, to soothe the skin as I pulled it off. After removing the tape, his skin was super red and irritated where it was pulled off. We assumed that was because of pulling off something that was so stuck to his skin. It’s now been 3 days since we removed it, and he still has a rash where the tape was. In addition to that he has a line, that looks like a scar, instead of a rash, where the tape was. (see photo)
All in all, we didn’t like this tape. I am SO VERY GLAD I didn’t use it on myself, after seeing his reaction. I have sensitive skin, and I would have had 10 times the issues with a rash/scar than he did. I personally wouldn’t recommend this. I don’t know if it is the brand, or the tape in general, or what. I’ve read a lot of good reviews and news on this, so maybe it just didn’t work for us. However, this is our experience. One in a million I am sure.
We received this product for the purpose of an honest review. All opinions you read here are that of my own or my husbands, and are not influenced in any way.
