You probably saw it during the Olympics: the brightly colored tape peaking out from underneath athlete’s uniforms. This tape has nothing to do with injury but rather is a legal way to enhance performance by increasing blood flow and helping to engage certain muscle groups during competition and recovery.
Rocktape president and founder Greg Van Den Dries answered what the tape means for today’s athletes.
KineticShift: Given that everything from cars to TV have seen improvements in the past 50 years should we have expected that much could have been done with athletic tape? So how exactly has the good old tape that has been in use for decades gone high-tech?
Greg Van Den Dries: While tape has been used for decades to immobilize injured joints and muscles (a one-dimensional product and use), only recently has taping been used to enhance the movement and performance of non-injured athletes (a movement oriented product and application).
Rocktape is based on hi-tech textiles and adhesives. It is thin and stretchy, a design feature that enhances an athletes natural range of movement while stabilizing joints. The magic is that it can do so without restricting movement which allows an athlete to move freely. Rocktape will also stay in place despite contact with sweat or water, providing very sweaty or even watersports athletes with a technology previously only usable on dry skin and dry land. By providing customers with educational tools for proper application (an instruction manual with every roll of tape and how-to videos online), Rocktape users are armed with knowledge that allows them to be accountable for their own health and wellness. Here is the link to the instructional taping videos: (http://rocktape.com/video-page/). If more help is needed, there are over 10,000 Rock Docs who have been trained in the use of Rocktape.
KS: How exactly can this tape enhance performance?
GVDD: In addition to treating all of the common sports injuries, Rocktape can enhance performance by ensuring proper form through nuero muscular queuing (proprioception). The same fluid management capabilities that accelerate healing can be used to flood muscle groups used in specific sports.
Other performance benefits (depending on specific application of Rocktape) include:
Decompress swollen tissue (trauma)
Compress muscle onto bones (shin splints)
Reduce swelling (edema)
Increase venous blood flow
Correct biomechanical dysfunction (patella femoral)
Treat lymphadema
Increase range of motion (shoulder impingement)
Provide proprioceptive queuing (increase athletic form)
Relief from pregnancy (lower back)
Postural control (neck stress associated with forward head carriage)
KineticShift: Years ago there were warnings about using tape and various topical pain relievers, but now you have the Rocktape and Rock Sauce and they actually work together. How do these benefit one another?
GVDD: Rocktape and Rock Sauce are designed to be used in tandem (although they can be used separately). Rock Sauce can first be used as a primer to clean and prep skin for Rocktape application (apply to skin and wipe off with a towel). Once Rocktape is applied to an area, the athlete or trainer can rub Rock Sauce into the Rocktape, and the skin of the affected area, for pain relief and muscle warming. Rock Sauce will not inhibit the tape’s adhesiveness.
We have a video demonstration of how this works:
httpv://youtu.be/GIKRqG0Dyr0
KS: Finally, what benefits does pHast Legs offer runners and other athletes that wasn’t previously available?
GVDD: pHast Legs uses a unique set of minerals to create the ultimate alkalizing agent that works fast and is easy on the stomach. Sodium bicarbonate is a proven ergogenic aide but is harsh on the stomach. pHast Legs reduces muscle soreness and decreases recovery times by accelerating the removal of toxins that build up in muscle tissue during hard efforts. Further, each bottle contains a pH test kit which allows the athlete to actual see the changes occurring in the body.
Thank you to Greg for talking with us.