I believe that friends who love sports or often watch sports events can often see such scenes, athletes’ shoulders, elbows, knees and other joints are pasted with flowery green tape. What does these “colored tapes” do? For our ordinary sports enthusiasts, can we use this “colored tape”? Let’s talk about it in detail today.
The big role of colored small “adhesive tape”
In fact, the “colored tape” used by athletes is called intramuscular patch, referred to as muscle patch. Due to the viscoelasticity of the intramuscular patch and the special gel pattern, it increases the gap between the skin and the deep soft tissues, and plays a role in promoting venous and lymphatic return. After promoting reflux, soft tissues will quickly reduce swelling, so the main function of muscle patch is to reduce swelling and relieve pain.
Not only that, with the development of time and technology, muscle patches can also be used by some patients with chronic muscle strain and chronic ligament relaxation, which has the effect of stabilizing muscles and joints.
It’s also a pain reliever, but a muscle patch ≠ plaster
Sometimes our muscles or joints are damaged, and many patients choose to apply some traditional plasters to relieve pain. So, the question is, what is the difference between the traditional plaster and this colored patch for athletes, which is also pain relief?
Traditional plasters contain pharmaceutical ingredients, which are absorbed on the surface of the skin to reduce swelling and relieve pain; The skin patch generally does not contain pharmaceutical ingredients, and uses the elasticity and special gel lines of the skin patch itself to shrink the skin and relieve swelling and pain.
Because the patch does not contain pharmaceutical ingredients, it is favored by professional athletes.
Skin patches are also available for general sports enthusiasts
The patch is so good, can we ordinary people use it? The answer is: Yes, but it needs to be used under the guidance of a professional doctor or rehabilitation therapist.
People who love sports can also be used if they have acute soft tissue injuries, tendon and ligament strains, and joint instability. But there must be a professional to help, a professional doctor or rehabilitation therapist, to carry out the treatment of muscle patches.
Intramuscular patches can be used for cervical spondylosis, tennis elbow, tendonitis, as well as lumbar muscle strain, ligament strain, ligament tear and other situations in life.
Intramuscular patch mainly works by adjusting the tension of the adhesion, so it is necessary to choose the size and method of the patch according to different diseases and the size of the area of the injured part to ensure that the appropriate tension degree is achieved.
Beware of improper use causing more harm
Since ordinary people do not have the ability to determine the specific injuries inside the skin, if it is not properly applied, it will not only be ineffective, but also may cause problems.
For example, in acute soft tissue inflammation, the skin tension can be relieved, but if it is applied too tightly, the skin tension is too large, which will aggravate the damage of the skin. At the same time, the original intention of the sticker is to relieve the tension of the tendons and ligaments, if the way of pasting is wrong, it will increase the tension of the tendons and ligaments, aggravate the strain. In addition, for patients with joint laxity, if the position of the muscle patch is wrong, the originally stable part is strengthened, and the relative, unstable part becomes more relaxed, which is not conducive to the stability of the joint.
Here I also want to remind everyone that intramuscular patches only have a relieving effect, and have no therapeutic effect, and do not delay formal rehabilitation treatment because of long-term dependence on intramuscular patches, resulting in aggravation of the condition.
Text/Gao Xin Ma Yong (Peking University Third Hospital)