Last week I wrote about the rise and “potential” fall of Kinesiology-type taping. Please click here if you have yet to read “Kinesiology-type Taping: A Psychological Intervention in Sport?”

Well as it turns out, this “old” taping method MAY in fact be psychological after all! But before I proceed any further, I must point out the fact that I said “old” because this taping method has actually been around for over 25 years.

So now that you have read my preceding post, you will know that I braved the snowstorm and travelled down to Calgary this past weekend to attend a SpiderTech Taping seminar. I do not hold any ties with its parent company, Nucap Medical, and therefore will try to give you as objective an opinion as possible (disclaimer: I apply these products on my patients and therefore must disclose this information)

As a health care practitioner with no prior “formal” training in this method of taping, I came away from this seminar impressed with this particular taping system. Here are 2 simple reasons why:

SpiderTech admits that it may work via psychological mechanisms.

Yes, that IS correct. While the main therapeutic effects stated are via microcirculatory, structural, and neurosensory mechanisms, SpiderTech admits that psychotherapeutic effects may also occur. That is, through an increased conscious awareness and increased perception of stability, a decreased fear of activity may subsequently result. For those of you who work with elite-level athletes, you will know that psychology plays an important role in high performance and thus, if an increased perception of joint stability results in increased confidence, then yes, SpiderTech may also enhance performance through psychological means.

SpiderTech seems to be grounded in sound, scientific principles

As a site dedicated to “evidence-informed sport health”, I strive to incorporate scientific principles as much as possible. It seems as though this company does the same. I was really impressed with the 2+ hours of scientific information presented to us before we were permitted to utilize the individual tape applications! Though research may apparently be underway to evaluate the efficacy of this taping method, the theoretical principles pertaining to its mechanisms of action via neurosensory pathways most certainly seems plausible. In fact, the certification manual’s reference list contains over 70 references from peer-reviewed literature pertaining to the information presented to us.

So is this method a psychological intervention in sport? Maybe. But in the event you are presented with multiple interventions to choose from, may I suggest you give these guys a second look.

Photo source: www.nucapmedical.com

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