Here is the sneak peek video for one our newest applications for quad strain!  Read below for more details on how to use KT Tape to prevent injury, recover faster, and play harder than ever before!

Where do I apply KT Tape for quad relief?

Apply the base of KT Tape on the area just above the knee. Apply the tape towards the hip with 10-20% stretch – while all skin is on stretch. Lean back at the hips and have the knee in full flexion to achieve maximum stretch on this skin. Lay the end down with no stretch. You can repeat this on the inner and outer quads for even greater effect.

Why do quad injuries occur?

Quad injuries can occur for many reasons including, but not limited to: over-activity or insufficient rest, over-abrupt changes in direction or twisting during activity, dehydration, inadequate nutrition, or stretching the muscle too far. A lack of flexibility or training, muscle imbalance, or poor form can lead to frequent quad injuries as well.

How does KT Tape help?

This application can be used for most all quad issues including soreness, tightness, tears, spasms, and general pain. The application helps to relax the muscles while your foot is off of the ground in order to promote the healing process and give the muscle a break. Consequently, this application also helps to assist the muscles during contraction as your hips move over your feet. Increased blood flow results from the surface sensation and rushes more nutrients and anti-inflammatory properties to the area. With this assist in relaxation and activation, as well as the additional nutrients and anti-inflammatory components, you are sure to see a reduction in re-injury and healing time.

What else can I do to prevent further pain or injury?

To help alleviate the causes of quad injuries, make sure you stretch dynamically before activity. This means do some high knee raises, leg extensions behind the body, and squat thrusts prior to your high intensity activity. Drinking plenty of water and taking in sufficient electrolytes will drastically reduce all issues with muscles and help you to perform at a higher level. If muscle imbalance is the issue, consider visiting a professional for a KT Tape application that will help to activate those weaker muscles and inhibit the muscles that are overactive. And as always with an injury, consider decreasing activity while icing and KT Taping.

Top Marine Runners from bases and stations across the nation come together to compete as the All Marine Corps Track Team. 

Recently Dr. Michael Moses of Novapain Rehab in Arlington, VA (pictured at left taping a Marines’ quad) traveled with the Marine Corps team at an event in San Diego, CA and treated the Marines athletes with KT Tape.

Led by Coach Joe Puleo, the Marines Track Team sported their team colors not only by their uniforms, but by their KT Tape as well!  Coach Joe Puleo is also the men’s and women’s cross country coach at Rutgers-Camden.  Puleo has coached three CISM World Championship teams for the United States Armed Forces.

Click on the following links to learn more about the United States Marine Corps Running Program and view the 2011 Marine Corps Sports Calendar.

From Dr. Edmund Burke, Ph.D. on www.active.com –At this time of the year, most of us are looking forward to the next racing season. But the groundwork necessary to achieve improved results next year needs to begin now, and, unfortunately, this is when it is most difficult.

Daylight hours are at their shortest, and for most of us, the weather is anything but warm and sunny. With these two hindrances posing a threat to training consistency, you know it’s time to clean off that indoor trainer and climb aboard.

The good news about training indoors is that you can maximize your training benefits while minimizing the amount of time required. In fact, the benefits of indoor training are so profound that some top cyclists who have limited training time use them in their training programs year round.

You need to make indoor training fun and productive. Steady pedaling in front of the television watching movie reruns or MTV is fine for the first few workouts, but it’s a sure guarantee your mind will eventually mutiny, and your body will surely follow.

It doesn’t have to be that way. The truth is, indoor cycling can be twice as effective and almost as exciting as anything you can do on the road. That’s because when you’re indoors you can measure and monitor incremental changes in resistance which many times is impossible outdoors.

As a result, with a little planning and analysis, you can turn every workout into a quality one.

Here are several workouts you can add to your program to add variety, and improve your fitness and power. Remember to warm up and cool down before and after each of these workouts:

The 10- to Two-Minute Descending Ladder

Start with a 10-minute hard effort followed by two minutes of easy spinning for recovery.

Your second interval will consist of eight minutes hard effort and another two minutes of easy spinning.

Each hard set decreases in time by two minutes while increasing slightly in intensity. The easy set remains the same. The workout ends when you reach two minutes of hard effort. Cool down and call it quits for the day.

Pyramids

Pyramids are a variation of the above workout. Usually pyramid workouts consist of gradually increasing periods of hard effort, then gradually decreasing these periods of hard effort.

For example, after a normal warm-up, you could go one minute hard, one minute easy, two minutes hard, two minutes easy, three hard, three easy, four hard, four easy; then descend to three and three, two and two, and one and one.

Or you may choose to keep the time element constant and gradually increase the load. For example, pick a steady cadence and go to a smaller rear cog every two minutes until you reach your highest gear, at which point you lower your gear by one cog every two minutes. (Beginners may wish to use one-minute intervals instead of two minutes.)

Surge and Purge

Do this set three times through: Five minutes in a hard gear in your normal riding position on the flats, then three minutes in your seated climbing position in an easier gear, but at a high cadence so that your speed stays nearly the same.

Try to use the high cadence session to allow the lactic acid to slowly dissipate from your muscles. Then go back to your standard riding position and the hard gear for three minutes. Spin easy for three minutes to recover before the next set.

This exercise is good practice for recovering during a race when you have to surge to drop someone, or if you have gone too hard and have to let your legs recover. Change your hand positions during these sets to break up the monotony.

Anaerobic Threshold

Often referred to as maximal steady-state pace, this workout will help you build your sustainable pace, which will pay off during long races and climbs.

Complete 20 minutes (or 10 sets) of the following:

• One minute in a 42 x 15 gear ratio, cadence at about 110 and heart rate at 65 to 80 percent of maximum.
• One minute in a 53 x 15 gear ratio, cadence about 90, and heart rate at 75 to 90 percent of maximum.

Build up to two twenty-minute sets or one thirty minute set (1:30 intervals).

This workout will build your sustainable pace. The gearing changes give you the opportunity to push up your heart rate without fatiguing your muscles. You should not feel a “burn” in your muscles if you are doing these intervals correctly.

Do these continuously for a full 20 minutes. This is a low-intensity, long-duration interval set. Simply make your gear changes and concentrate on your cadence.

As you improve, you can choose to increase the duration of the set or increase the resistance, or both.

Climbing

Use the trainer to simulate climbing on steep roads. Select a gear that increases the load sufficiently to require a 15 to 20 rpm drop from your normal cadence.

Slide back in the saddle and picture yourself on a long climb. Maintain this workload until hyperventilation or leg fatigue bring your rpm’s significantly lower. Shift to a lower gear and recover completely before attempting another bout at the high resistances.

This develops leg strength and technique to push those bigger gears when the hill steepens. It is also as good idea to put a two to 4-inch lift under the front wheel to simulate the angle.

As you train, don’t let anything like shoulder pain or a quad strain slow you down and treat it with KT Tape.  Taping with kinesiology therapeutic tape by KT Tape is easy, affective and will keep you training your hardest so you can have a successful upcoming racing season.

The KT Tape PRO EDU Program has partnered with California Education Connection (CEC), one of the leading education firms serving Athletic Trainers, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Chiropractic Physicians and other healthcare professionals.  Live, two-day workshops across the country are available to help professionals learn how to use KT Tape as a comprehensive modality for helping patients improve function, reduce pain, and recover faster. CEC/KT Tape instruction focuses on clinical and therapeutic strategies.  For more information on specific classes, qualifications to attend, schedules, and CEUs, see www.kttape.com/professional-education.

KT Tape and Sport Medics, an online education company focused on sports medicine professionals, offer an online continuing education course called Kinesiology Taping Fundamental Applications, designed and instructed by KT Tape clinician Dr.Ted Forcum, DC, DACBSP, FICC, CSCS, ’08 Olympic Sports Medicine Team Member. The course covers the basic philosophy and techniques of kinesiology taping and instructs students how to implement 19 basic therapeutic applications. Through this multimedia course, students can learn the basics of using Kinesiology Therapeutic Tape as well as practical applications.

Along with building a good base of strength and fitness, the skills of the game should be worked on, ideally as a team in order to produce a higher level of combined skills, as cricket is a sport that is played in two forms, batting and fielding.

BATSMAN

Batsman aim to stay at the crease for as long as possible, sometimes for periods of over 4 hours. In order to occupy this position, a good bats man most be able to stay focused, have good ball / eye skills, and have the strengths and fitness to make each shot played count.

The power will come from having a strong core, abdominal mid-section and the ability to generate explosive upper body actions, however with that said, using the kinetic energy of the ball as it speeds towards you, only requires a slight change in direction in order to score 4 runs – unfortunately this skill has only be given to a few class bats man.

FIELDING

Fielders need the ability to sustain a concentrated effort for a 6 hour plus period without fatigue, in sometimes very warm conditions. There bodies most be capable of explosive bursts at any given time – such as racing for a ball, jumping for a catch.

Aim to keep your body moving whilst on the pitch, walking and stretching the muscles whenever possible. Keep your mind busy by visualizing exactly what you will do when the ball comes towards you.

When you have a sport that requires explosive bursts, there is going to be soreness, muscle tears and strained tendons.  At KT Tape, we have the quintessential product that addresses these inherent discomforts.   KT Tape is highly effective at providing pain relief, stability & support, & faster recovery for injured or sore muscles and joints-without sacrificing comfort or freedom of movement.

Promoted by the League of American Bicyclists, National Bike Month is being celebrated across the country. Check out the list of events happening in your area.

The mission of the League of American Bicyclists is to promote bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation and work through advocacy and education for a bicycle-friendly America.

In my early twenties while hiking through Glacier National Park, I would quietly snicker at those using hiking poles.  I simply didn’t understand them.  But I have since learned that when you hike with poles, you are distributing weight and shock over four limbs instead of two.  People who use hiking poles discover an almost immediate benefit to their knees, especially on downhill terrain, according to Mats Lundkvist of thebackpacker.com

Hiking poles or staffs help us to reduce weight on our feet and legs. The modern design of the hiking pole distributes the weight evenly on the whole body instead of legs. According to one estimate poles can reduce 15% of weight from your legs by spreading it on the arms and other parts of body. As they act like your legs so they also bear some of the weight. Especially when you are climbing on a steep hill, the poles bear much weight than in normal walking so the percentage of weight may rise even further.

When you take the leap and get hiking poles, you are doing yourself a favor, not just for your knees but for your overall safety in the back country as you maneuver through early runoff, unstable scree or wildlife on the trail.  It’s good to be versatile.

Here at KT Tape, we know the meaning of versatility.  Kinesiology Therapeutic tape is used for a myriad of reasons in addition to drug free pain relief,  including correcting body mechanics, creating biofeedback and increasing circulation & lymphatic drainage.  When I hit the trail this weekend, I’m going to be outfitted with poles and using KT Tape…join me!

In preparation for the Indianapolis 500 race, the 34th annual 500 Festival and Mini-Marathon will take place this weekend, and KT Tape will be there too!

The KT Tape Team will be at the KT Tape booth at the Mini-Marathon Expo to offer free taping demonstrations and advice to athletes.  Every year, over 40,000 visitors make their way to the expo to check out over 80 booths and exhibitors.

The 500 Festival Mini-Marathon Expo will be held Thursday, May 6 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday, May 7 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Indianan Convention Center, Halls D &E at 100 S. Capitol Ave.

Because KT Tape can be worn for up to five days per application, Indianapolis Marathon runners who stop by the KT Tape Booth can get taped up for race day at the expo! KT Tape is used by athletes to treat common sports injuries such as runner’s knee, shin splints, IT Band pain, plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, and quad or hamstring strain.  It is the only solution that will provide pain relief and support before, during, and after the race—without restricting motion.  At the Expo, the KT Tape team will be available to answer questions, demo product taping methods, and introduce Indianapolis to this revolution in pain relief and performance enhancement.

The KT Tape Team is heading to the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon this weekend! The team will be hanging out at the GNC Live Well Health and Fitness Expo offering

The Pittsburgh Marathon Health and Fitness Expo will be held Friday April 30 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, May 1 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, May 2 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the David Lawrence Convention Center at 100 Fort Duquesne Blvd. Because KT Tape can be worn for up to five days per application, Pittsburgh Marathon runners who stop by the KT Tape Booth can get taped up for race day at the expo!

KT Tape is used by athletes to treat common sports injuries such as runner’s knee, shin splints, IT Band pain, plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, and quad or hamstring strain.  It is the only solution that will provide pain relief and support before, during, and after the race—without restricting motion.  At the Expo, the KT Tape team will be available to answer questions, demo product taping methods, and introduce Pittsburgh to this revolution in pain relief and performance enhancement.

When injuries like those mentioned above occur, experts recommend a variety of treatments and rehabilitative strategies.  When the word “tendinitis” is part of the diagnosed injury, the benefits of KT Tape should come to mind.  Kinesiology therapeutic tape provides pain relief for common injuries such as Achilles tendinitis, plantar fasciitis,  ITBS, hamstring strains, sore calves, neck, back, and shoulder pain and more.  This product is also useful in supporting sore or injured muscles, joints, and tendons without restricting motion like compression bands or wraps.  Sounds like a great fit for the sport of crew, yes?  At the same time, crew involves the probability that one will get wet at some point.  KT Tape can be worn in a pool or the shower without moving or peeling- and that goes for in the lake or river as well!

We found that the most common injuries marathoners requested taping for included shin splints, runner’s knee, IT band and Achilles tendonitis. And in the spirit of the city of Boston, runners loved the new “Green Monster” Green and the “Red Sox” Red KT Tape.

Our advice to runners looking to participate in the Boston Marathon: Put your name along with your number on your bib — you’ll have a lot more fans cheering your name no matter what place you come in!

So thanks to the city of Boston and the folks at the Boston Marathon! We can’t wait to see you again next year!

From Chris Mader: First things first, marching band is an endurance sport and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  Endurance, endurance, endurance.  This will be the main focus of everything that you will need to do.  Strength training for marching band?  Yes, I know we won’t be tackling the other marching bands or laying blocks on rival Drum Majors, but strength is very important for being able to control your body in the unique usages required during a show.  You will use a lot of muscles that you have never really focused on before so it is important to at least get those muscles ready for the season.

I would certainly trust the veteran of the oldest and most famous marching band in the country.  Marching band members are very dedicated individuals and their sport requires a great deal of physicality.  Just as in the case of other athletes,  muscle pulls, strains and soreness are all part of the game.  Also in common with other athletes, is their opportunity to incorporate KT Tape into their regimen for preventative as well as healing measures.   Kinesiology therapeutic tape supports sore and injured muscles, tendons, and joints.  When it comes to playing an instrument while maintaining synchrony with other members, it is imperative that motion not be restricted as it is with other tapes, presses and wraps. By integrating KT Tape into your marching band experience, you can focus on the steps and the notes, and not the inherent aches and pains that come with the sport.