Acupressure Taping: For Chronic Pain and Injuries

"Most people have heard of the benefits of acupressure and acupuncture. These traditional Chinese medicine practices are becoming more and more commonly used as complimentary aspects of pain management and the healing of injuries. Based upon these techniques is acutaping.

Acutaping involves the use of bandages placed on particular areas of the body to treat pain and the healing of injuries. This is similar to another technique, Kinesio-taping, used extensively in sports medicine. The primary difference is that in kinesio-taping these tapes are attached to muscles, ligaments, or joints for treatment of pain relief whereas in acutaping the bandages are placed on the actual problem area, associated loci, or along particular median pathways to support the client in his or her unique needs.

Acupressure Taping is a particularly good introduction to acutaping. The authors summarize the basic concepts of Chinese Medicine for those who might not be knowledgeable about these aspect; make clear the similarities and differences between kinesio-taping and acutaping; and discuss the types of issues where acutaping could be useful. However, the most useful parts of this book are the well set up reference portions of the text. These sections include full color photographs showing where the bandages should be placed for various ailments. The accompanying information includes the number of tapes that should be used and where they should be placed as well as hints about how each set of muscles should be flexed to issue best fit and hints in attaching the tapes in specific areas.

I found this book fascinating. In my Reiki sessions, I often make use of median points and pathways to aid in healing and pain management. Unfortunately, many ailments require longer term work than a 30 minute or hour long energy session. Acutaping could be a very useful element to aid the healing and pain management process.
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~ Written on 2007-10-07