Sports medicine: only for professionals?
Sports medicine
Sports medicine is not only for elite athletes. It can also be useful if you want to become more active again, return to sport after an injury or specifically improve your physical performance.
- You exercise and would like to improve your performance.
- You have a sports injury or overuse complaints.
- You would like to start exercising again - after a break, illness or injury.
Partners & useful information
I work with regional and national therapists & specialists and can assess and treat sports medicine injuries directly.
Bandages and orthoses are available at my practice, as well as shockwave therapy, Kinesio taping, dry needling, Compex therapy, trigger point therapy and manual therapy.
Useful links
Sport & Exercise Medicine Switzerland (SEMS): www.sems.ch
German Society for Sports Medicine and Prevention: www.dgsp.de
German Nutrition Society (DGE): www.dge.de/wissenschaft/leitlinien
Swiss Society for Manual Medicine: www.samm.ch
Interest Group for Myofascial Trigger Point Therapy: www.imtt.ch
Kinesio Tape or K-Taping
Therapeutic spectrum
K-Tape supports almost the entire physiotherapeutic treatment spectrum and offers doctors and therapists a variety of new treatment options.
Back problems, muscle tension, joint instabilities or disc problems can be treated, as can migraine and tinnitus. But K-taping also provides valuable help in lymphatic therapy, for example after breast cancer surgery. In elite and professional sport, K-taping has established itself in both therapy and in prevention and training preparation. In all cases, K-taping preserves the patient’s full mobility — a decisive advantage over previous therapeutic methods.
The tape
The material properties are intended to ensure functional movements (free range of motion) and to allow unrestricted training, unlike conventional, non-elastic bandages that are used for compression and splinting.
The textile is applied to the backing paper with a ten per cent stretch; it is a cotton fabric with elastane fibres, viscose or synthetic fibres. The tapes’ elasticity is specified as approximately 130 to 140% of the original length. The tapes are primarily elastic along their length, but also show some diagonal elasticity. This allows the tape to follow joint movements. The elastic properties are intended to be similar to those of human skin. An acrylic adhesive is applied to the backing material in a wavy pattern, which is activated by body heat and rubbing. The tape is permeable to air and moisture. It is water-resistant and remains adherent during showering, swimming and increased perspiration. It stays on the skin for up to seven days. The trade supplies tape rolls and pre-cut pieces ("Pre-Cuts").
Mechanism of action
K-taping therapy essentially employs two effects. On the one hand, stimulation of the cutaneous receptors, with associated pain reduction and improved deep sensitivity (proprioception). This allows targeted influence on the complex interaction between muscle tone, joints, ligaments and nerves. On the other hand, the elastic K-tape and the special application techniques lift the skin and the tissue. This creates more space within the damaged tissue. Lymphatic fluids can drain more effectively, blood circulation is improved and the pain receptors are relieved. Improved blood circulation alone stimulates healing processes. When the effects of lymphatic drainage and receptor stimulation are added, this results in an unusually broad range of applications for K-taping therapy.