Comments on: Olympic "K-Tape" unproven, scientists say

By: Eric Rucker

Eric Rucker — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 14:33:00 +0000

I’d actually go for the lower center of gravity every time, given how little time is spent above 30 mph.

(And, the autocrosses I’ve been to, windows down was mandatory for safety reasons anyway. And usually people put the top down on a convertible, too.)

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 04:53:00 +0000

What you said has nothing to do with the concept of free will.

By: sdmikev

sdmikev — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 04:29:00 +0000

wrong, on every single level possible. please think about what you just said.
a dr. is not a magic man in the sky you’re praying to, he’s a product of human science.
if you think that a god can interceded on our earthly endeavors, how could humans possibly have free will?

By: Roger Dudek

Roger Dudek — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 17:50:00 +0000

I’d never heard of this until this morning. Sounds nutty. Olympian Kara Goucher swears by her necklace… http://running.competitor.com/2012/08/olympic-games/games-ready-exclusive-interview-with-kara-goucher_56317

By: Elliott C. Bäck

Elliott C. Bäck — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 05:12:00 +0000

I know it’s cool to be all hipster-again-the-man, but “quackery and the promise of biological shortcuts?” That’s absurd. I assume you don’t enjoy science, like
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16003194 …

By: Jason Garland

Jason Garland — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 07:57:00 +0000

That stuff works! My wife had been suffering from vertigo and we had been to several doctors about it. She had a MRI done, and various other tests. None of the doctors could figure out what was wrong. One doctor thought maybe it was something with her inner ear and referred us to a physical therapist. The physical therapist quickly figured out that it was just a strained muscle in her neck. My wife had been able to reproduce the dizziness by turning her head left and right. The therapist held onto one of the muscles in her neck and had my wife turn her head left and right like before, but the dizziness was gone while the therapist was holding onto her neck. We were so happy to find the cause of her dizziness! The therapist attached some of this tape to her neck to relieve the strain on her neck muscles and my wife was cured! At least temporarily by this magic tape on her neck. The doctor prescribed some muscle relaxers and after a few days we took the tape off and she was fine. It turned out to be the bag my wife was using to carry her books for school. It went over one shoulder and caused her to strain the muscles in her neck. I bought her a proper backpack and sacrificed the one she had been using to the garbage gods.

By: LoneSwimmer

LoneSwimmer — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 07:54:00 +0000

Your implication in the headline paragraph that athletes are insufficiently educated to understand the nature of placebo is insulting to athletes generally especially since Olympians are high-performing individuals who spend years pursuing excellence and are generally high-achieving individuals in more facets of their lives than just their chosen sport, you therefore demean yourself by your prejudice, and your assertion seems at odds with the rest of the population who believe all kinds of bollocks, regardless of education. Do I need to mention I’m a well educated atheist athlete to make this valid and bypass your prejudice?

By: naam

naam — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 07:18:00 +0000

Huh, that’s funny, I would have suggested that athletes are probably the most superstitious people on the planet. Especially since the only measure of success of their mannerisms comes only from within their own being.

By: drdestructo

drdestructo — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 06:48:00 +0000

I heard if you wrap this tape around your speaker cables it widens the sound stage and improves definition.

By: Anthony Chen

Anthony Chen — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 03:30:00 +0000

Never believe in Kinesio Tapes since it appeared back in 2008 until I tried it after injured myself, it does seem to work and the pain is a lot less now. If you use it together with the ice treatment, it is amazing. I believe Kinesio Tapes is the best brand.

By: :):

:): — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 02:33:00 +0000

I was not aware that compression was a placebo. It’s always helped me keep my calves stiffening up when running, myself.

By: Stephanie Briggs

Stephanie Briggs — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 00:46:00 +0000

As a professional massage therapist, I was incredibly skeptical at what this “tape” could do for my recurring neck pain and subsequent headaches. I was introduced to it during an Airrosti session, which included deep mysofascial release work and then tape. I was absolutely amazed! It could have been the myofascial work in and of itself or a combination of the two, but I am a big believer in it now! I went headache-less for the first time in a year. I quit doing the treatments for now (lovely insurance has a “physical therapy” treatment cap) and the headaches are back. The said benefits of the kinesio tape are improved circulation and muscle mobilization.

I will say that the actual brand “K Tape” sucks! The kinesio tape used in the Airrosti clinics was far superior as far as sticking power. I bought a roll of pre-cut strips of the premium K Tape and it starts peeling within minutes of application.

By: Adam Brown

Adam Brown — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 00:12:00 +0000

We used Kinesiotape a lot at Murdoch University in Australia. It differs from traditional strapping because it is not a rigid tape and therefore is less supportive, but this is not its aim. It promotes healing by lifting/separating the upper layer of fascia from lower layers, thus increasing fluid flow (in cases of inflammation due to soft tissue injury). It also promotes increased proprioception at joint capsules, because the stretch in the tape acts as a force-feedback.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 21:10:00 +0000

When did handegg become an Olympic sport?

By: TacoChuck

TacoChuck — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 20:33:00 +0000

The self reporting bias to please researchers is not addressed by double blinded studies. The patients know they are receiving care of some sort and know they are being asked to report on their symptoms after some sort of treatment.

For a much more thorough examination of the existence of the placebo effect please see: http://www.skepdic.com/placebo.html

However, the viability of the placebo effect is tangential to my main point anyway, dishonest medicine in hopes of the placebo effect helping is unethical and potentially damaging.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 20:27:00 +0000

That makes no sense whatsoever. By that illogic, I would be operating under the premise that humans don’t have free will if I asked my doctor to take out my appendix.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 20:22:00 +0000

That may be true, but I am not convinced it is, as all placebo effects are subjective so you can only self report that something feels better and the instinct to please people in authority will skew self reported results.

That’s why researchers use blind studies. Which verify the placebo effect.

By: cap cavern

cap cavern — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:59:00 +0000

Wow I always used these K-tape thing because I wasn’t able to find elastic tape . I grow up in the old continent where pharmacy don’t sell soda,gatorade,beer and chips but useful items , like strong stretchable sport tape. Because if you tape an injured ankle, You want to be able to move it enough so you can use it. So the stretchable quality of the tape let you do that ,meanwhile if you over stretch the ankle during the activity , the tape will hit it’s max stretch and prevent the weak ligaments to deteriorate even more. So each time I go back I buy bunch of these tapes. For twice as much tape I pay 1/4 of the price…K-tape range from 11 to 20$ ??? glue and elastic?…

By: Nathan Hornby

Nathan Hornby — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:40:00 +0000

I appreciate that you entered the discussion with the understanding that it was likely a placebo, so I give you huge credit for that. There’s certainly no shame in it; our minds our squishy and easy manipulatable, and it’s better to understand that than pretend it’s not true. I hope that doesn’t come across as patronising because I don’t mean it to be.
I think the ‘instant’ nature of it would be the give away for me. The only instant medicinal thing that I’ve encountered is morphine. Sweet, sweet morphine.

By: RuthlessRuben

RuthlessRuben — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:38:00 +0000

Hm, thanks for that link. After reading that, as mentioned below, I’m not sure any more I used the same thing…that is a bit too much miracle working promised there…

By: RuthlessRuben

RuthlessRuben — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:36:00 +0000

How? Some instant pain relief from the tape taking some weight from the muscle I had injured. Said pain relief occured ever time I put on the tape. Possibly I fooled myself into thinking it worked, or maybe it actually worked. Placebo, I wager.

But I do admit I did not submit myself to a peer-reviewed double blind experiment at the time. :P

Addendum: I may have shot too fast on the whole issue anyway, as after reading up on these things I am not at all sure any more if I used the same product, but definitely something comparable.

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:19:00 +0000

I never would have thought that athletes, trained to succeed at all costs and given a perfunctory education, would be so easily sold on quackery and the promise of biological shortcuts.

Yes, I remember the football jocks in my high school and how brilliant they all were. This is coming as quite a shock to me as well.

By: bigbluemeanie

bigbluemeanie — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:18:00 +0000

“Huh, I never would have thought that athletes, trained to succeed at all costs and given a perfunctory education, would be so easily sold on quackery and the promise of biological shortcuts.” -

I’m surprised at your surprise, since the “psychological factor” (and concomitant superstition) is well documented in sport.

By: Ty_MY

Ty_MY — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:18:00 +0000

OK, now someone needs to address those “titanium” and/or “magnetic” bracelets that golfers seem to think gives them superpowers. They come in either a metallic wrist-thing or a Live Strong plasticky thing.

They seem to be selling pretty well over here.

By: LightningRose

LightningRose — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:12:00 +0000

“Apply directly to the forehead.”

By: Nathan Hornby

Nathan Hornby — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 16:49:00 +0000

Fair point.

By: Ethical Cannibal

Ethical Cannibal — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 16:48:00 +0000

I have a shoulder injury, and the PT gal has taped it three times. Did jack all. I looked for a peer reviewed study on the stuff, and could only find one that said essentially, that it didn’t do harm, but no good either.

By: JohnQPublic

JohnQPublic — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 16:42:00 +0000

I don’t think it’s always like this. The faithful (of diverse religions) that I know have shared that praying is not as a request for riches or victory or glory – but are to maintain a close spiritual connection with God. The times they explicit ask something from God, it’s for things like strength through adversity, comfort through pain, and peace through a turbulent time. I think that for most mature faithful believers, the relation with God is not a ticket to avoid life’s disasters and defeats, but a means to sustain and persevere themselves through them. I think religious people come in many levels of understanding – some pray for money and victory, but many don’t. It’s therefore not that useful to generalize and tear down a belief system by simply pointing out the easy targets.

By: Max

Max — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 16:41:00 +0000

You could have a bad day and then you realise halfway through that you forgot your tape, followed by a good day when you put your tape on in the morning. Or be in pain and then put tape on and feel a result. Then another time try some other pain treatment and compare the effect. Plenty of ways you can prove to yourself it made you feel better. Whether it cuts the overall recovery time, who knows, but at least you weren’t hurting the whole time.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 16:41:00 +0000

Look at all the sects of christianity in the United States… they don’t have to be from different cultures.