Book Review. Length, Strength and Kinesio Tape: Muscle Testing and Taping Interventions.

Length, Strength and Kinesio Tape: Muscle Testing and Taping Interventions, written by Thuy Bridges and Clint Bridges and endorsed by the Kinesio Taping Association International, is a simple manual presenting some basic techniques of the famous Kinesio Taping® Method, delivered by Kenzo Kase in the early 70s.

The authors’ aim is to support practitioners in best determining the accurate taping strategy for their everyday practice.

The first two chapters present the method’s general principles of application, the main physiological processes involved and the tape’s proprieties. Chapters three to ten focus on two actual techniques for testing and taping, covering 68 muscle groups and categorized by joint or area of the body. The covered anatomical parts are the neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist and thumb for the upper limb, the abdominal and low back muscles for the trunk and the pelvis, knee and ankle for the lower limb.

For each muscle, the analysis is sub-segmented in three parts:

• The muscle’s anatomy, which identifies its origin, insertion, nerve supply and function;
• The muscle’s testing, further categorized in strength and length bias testing, aimed to highlight peculiar muscular deficiencies;
• Both length and strength taping applications, presented to provide practitioners with a basic framework of intervention.

The exposition of the above three parts is very practical, mainly carried out through images depicting the interested body areas and the step-by-step procedure. More specifically, the anatomical structure (muscles, tendons and bones) is actually drawn on the model’s skin and serves as a visual aid to identify the muscles role and functioning.

At the end of each taping chapter an “assessment sheet” is displayed. This is a comprehensive table aimed to facilitate a systematic assessment and to help practitioners in prioritizing the relevant taping interventions, based on their findings from functional testing.

Strengths

• The book is very user-friendly and easily consultable.
• The language is highly immediate and understandable.
• The application methods are simply presented and analyzed.
• The images provide practitioners with a useful reference background both for muscular anatomy and relative testing techniques.
• Testing procedures are shown to be helpful in validating the Kinesio Tape effectiveness and assessing its outcomes.
• The accompanying videos are excellent and offer an extra-layer of learning for the reader

Weaknesses

• Only one or two testing procedures are outlined for any given muscle.
• As the title suggests, the book has very a specific focus on length and strength taping techniques. Some references to ligament taping techniques and mechanical correction ones would have been useful for the sake of completeness.
• The scientific literature the authors provide is not particularly solid.
• The difference between Kinesio Tape and other uses of kinesiology tape is not investigated in detail.

Summary

Summing up, Length, Strength and Kinesio Tape: Muscle Testing and Taping Interventions essentially qualifies as a handy manual for practitioners that have already attended an accredited Kinesio Taping^® course. This book is indeed written to be an adjunct to the training, not replacing its comprehensiveness, but offering a simple framework of taping techniques and testing procedures.

Furthermore, since it can serve as useful compendium of basic muscle anatomy, it may be convenient for any practitioner applying the Kinesio Taping^® Method, to have always this book at hand.

Length, Strength and Kinesio Tape: Muscle Testing and Taping Interventions is an essential manual for musculoskeletal therapists seeking to develop competency in the treatment of select clinical conditions using the concepts and principles of the Kinesio Taping® Method.

Focusing on the identification and role of muscle structures, the manual presents length and strength tests covering 68 muscle groups and provides practitioners with a framework to use and reassess the application of Kinesio® Tape.
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