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Friday, August 26, 2011

Some essentials

So this season I've the great pleasure to deal with the joy of an Achilles tendon injury. It was brought upon by a number of things like tight calves, increased mileage, improper running form and the desire to push through pain led to my injury. Here's a pair of things that I found useful on the road to recovery.


According to the website, The Stick provides the following benefits:
"
- Prevent & Predict Muscle Injuries
- Dramatically improve strength, flexibility and endurance

- Rapidly prepare muscles for physical activity
- Disperse the effects of lactic acid following activity
- Accelerate muscle recovery"

I found The Stick to be a better investment over the foam roller. Since The Stick is smaller, I can bring it to work or before going out for a ride or run. With the foam roller, you're pretty limited to where you can use it. In the future, I'll probably upgrade to the longer stick so I can get more of my back.


 Closer view of RockTape
 
For me, having an AT injury really sucked. I went from running 8min miles down to not being able to walk more than 10ft without stopping to rest. So I was willing to try anything that made it feel better. One of my co-workers suggested I give RockTape a try since she was a frequent user. 

According to the website, 

"Rocktape is a kinesiology tape and is fantastic for treating common sports injuries like shin splints, plantars and runner’s knee. Rocktape also can increase endurance by promoting blood flow during an athletic event. When applied properly, ROCKTAPE lifts the skin away from the muscle, which promotes blood flow. Faster blood flow means more oxygen and more lymph drainage, which helps remove Lactic Acid."

 In my opinion, I felt that the RockTape did make things feel a little better. Might be a mind over matter issue but hey, if it makes it feel better, why not? I didn't have any major issues with the RockTape, however I did find it a little irritating after swimming in the pool and after showering since the tape did hold a little water.

4 comments:

I have a foam roller that I almost never use. I would like to try the stick. Where did you get yours?

I've seen the kinesiology tape more and more. However, I wasn't sure how it worked. Thanks for the information. So, are you saying the tape continues to adhere even after swimming? While running during the Tinman Tri, I saw a few folks with the tape, but the ends were lifting.

I got The Stick off of Ebay. Did some shopping around and it was the cheapest online.

The tape does a pretty good job of staying on after the swim. I did a HIM with the tape on my right leg and staid on pretty good. I think it's a matter of application time and how good a job you do.

I finally go the stick! Now it is one of my essentials as I train for the marathon. Ice and a stick!!!

Cool. Did you get the longer one? I think you'd be set with some SLS3 padded compression socks ;) 20HIRAMOTO for 20% off.

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