Improving my skills and staying up-to-date with the best practices in rehabilitation is as important to me as competing! I took advantage of my recovery time to spend this weekend attending a taping and strapping workshop in Limerick. Although I’m great at the usual culprits, ankles and knees – mainly because managing injuries to these areas are high of my own rehab schedule and I see many clients with similar challenges, I felt I needed to improve my skills with upper body treatments. This was time well spent, the course did not disappoint and I left feeling energised thanks to all the practical knowledge and techniques that I know will help my clients ….. not to mention myself 🙂
Tracey from Body Tree college is an excellent trainer I learned a lot more than I expected regarding the use of taping and strapping.
The one that really jumped out at me was using it to relieve the symptoms of sciatica. I feel that anything that can help sciatic pain would be a huge benefit to so many clients. We also learned how the use of tape can relieve the symptoms of tinnitus, neck pain, carpal tunnel and tennis elbow to name but a few.
The Practical Part
Here are some examples of the practical part of the workshop.
Taping for IT syndrome (on left leg). Strapping for Quad strain and jumpers knee on the right leg. -
Taping to support bulging discs or facet joint syndrome -
Taping for carpal tunnel syndrome.
We also got to play around and experiment using different types of taping for the usual culprits. I learned that zinc oxide tape (The white strong tape) loses 40% of its support in the first 15 mins 
. So, I now know when using zinc oxide tape, it needs to be backed up with a cohesive tape to ensure full support for the duration of an event!
It was a super workshop, the opportunity to practice and have experienced yet constructive feedback made for a great learning experience. Personally, I feel that every trainer and/or physical therapist worth their salt should constantly be upskilling. I do at least one or more workshops every year so that I can ensure my clients are getting the best treatment and care available.
If you have an injury and you are looking to move pain-free, do give me a call. I am always interested in hearing your story and helping people to reach their personal goals, be that competing or simple moving with ease to the finish line to congratulate a family, friend as they cross the line!
Des Ryan | 085 830 7474
