How to Tape Your Back
A simple and supportive taping technique for your back. Helps reduce or prevent mid back, low back pain and helps with posture and body mechanics support.
One of the most common root causes of mid back, low back and buttock pain include habitually sitting or moving while:
Hinging forward at the hips and either arching the low back or holding the low back flat and tight
Flexing through the mid or low back, lengthening and weakening and straining the back muscles
Twisting or torsion in the mid or low back, tightening up one side, lengthening and weakening the other side
All of the above!
These habits or tendencies often occur without the patient realizing it and accumulate, over time, into muscle length and strength imbalances, core inactivity patterns.
Sometimes these habits persist for so long that it even changes the shape of the spine! Before coming to PT, some patients who have this problem will visit a chiropractor for some quick relief and they will be told that one of their legs are shorter than the other. More often than not this is not a true leg length difference, but one that has developed over time from the above posture and movement habits.
Here is a simple taping technique that helps to cue the body, without you having to consciously think about it, and to maintain a neutral alignment while you go about your daily business. It also helps to provide some support to your back if you are having some pain.
(Image from HEP2go.com)
This support is not mechanical; the tape does not physically hold you in a position. The pull of the tape on the skin cues the body to activate the deep core stabilizers in a way that supports your spine and pelvis and helps to maintain symmetry if you tend to put more weight through one side or twist more to one side or the other.
This taping technique is a temporary solution to assist you when you can’t or are having trouble paying attention to your posture consistently. Be sure to work on the underlying strength and movement control issues that are driving this problem in addition to using the taping technique.
