Kinesio Taping® Method

Kinesio Taping® Method

Kinesio Tape and the Kinesio Taping® Method were the brainchild of Dr. Kase’s belief that he could create a device that could help his patients find pain relief, heal the body naturally and in turn give them a better quality of life.

In the mid-1970s, Dr. Kenzo Kase® was already a well-known practitioner licensed in chiropractic and acupuncture in the US and Japan.

He had become familiar with a cryotherapy treatment for arthritis that utilized tape to adjust joint distortion. In Western medicine the presumption had been that once a joint is in a certain shape that cannot be changed. He was intrigued by the possibilities that this treatment could remediate the distortion.

To develop such a modality, he ordered supplies of the different athletic tapes that were available at that time. None of them gave him the results he was looking for. By trial and error, he realized that the source of the complaint was actually in the muscle, not in the joint or in the bone. To stabilize the joint he saw that it was more effective to tape around the muscle to achieve joint correction. The tapes that he was able to obtain were rigid, designed to immobilize the joint.

In cases of injury or overuse, the muscle loses its elasticity. Dr. Kase needed to develop an adhesive tape that would have the same texture and elasticity as healthy human muscle but also stay on the skin where it was applied.

It needed to be flexible and not limit range of motion while also breathable and water resistant since humans sweat. This was in response to limitations he encountered working with rigid sports taping methods on his own patients.

Using his knowledge in natural healing modalities, seven years of research and development, two of which on researching relating to elasticity, adhesives and breathability, he developed the original Kinesio Tape®, which we call Kinesio® Tex Classic. Dr. Kase coined the unique name “Kinesio” in reference to the body movement of kinesiology and kinesthesis.

The Kinesio Taping Method® was designed to facilitate the body’s natural healing process while allowing support and stability to muscles and joints without restricting the body’s range of motion. It is used to successfully treat a variety of orthopedic, neuromuscular, neurological and medical conditions. Both Kinesio® Tex Tape and the training protocol have shown results that would have been unheard of using older methods and materials.

Kinesio University® continues to work closely with Kinesio® partners, instructors and medical practitioners throughout the world as well as with Kinesio Taping® Association International (KTAI) and its members. Kinesio® and KTAI continue to maintain Dr. Kase’s high standards of care and to track new and increasingly effective uses for the taping method.

Description of the Educational Program "Kinesio Taping® Foundations Course"

Day 1: Kinesio Taping® Fundamental Concepts, Assessment, and Corrective Techniques

Day 2: Kinesio Taping® Fundamental Concepts, Assessment, and Corrective Techniques (continued)

Day 3: Kinesio Taping® Clinical Reasoning and Advanced Techniques