Functional Fascial Taping

In June Corina and I attended a course in London, the course was run by physioUK, and was one of the most enjoyable and applicable courses that we have done in ages. The Functional Fascial Taping® (FFT®) course has changed the way we practice and deal with injuries in a profound manner.

In the clinic we have taped clients for a couple of years, mostly taping ankles and elbows. Most of the taping that we have traditionally done has been aimed at limiting range of motion, like stopping an ankle from turning over during sport, or changing the stress within a muscle like strapping an elbow to reduce the effects of tennis/golfers elbow. The taping techniques that we learned on the FFT® course and the taping that we now apply in clinic is a world away from what we did before, and an order of magnitude more effective.

The course in London was lead by an Australian soft-tissue therapist called Ron Alexander. When we arrived we soon realised that Corina and I were pretty much the only massage therapists in the room and that the other twenty or so people attending were physios, perhaps not surprisingly because the course was run by pysioUK. Ron Alexander has developed his Functional Fascial Taping® over a 12 year period. What Ron found when working with the Australian Ballet Company was that the dancers would take off traditional tape during performances and he therefore needed to develop a method of taping that would allow the dancers the range of motion that they required while allowing their injuries to be helped. FFT® is a method of taping that allows the therapist to reduce the pain of an injury or ailment while at the same time increasing the range of motion; it is therefore incredibly useful when dealing with any type of musculoskeletal injury.

When Ron Alexander first started talking about the benefits of this taping technique I have to admit to being a little sceptical, from some of the murmuring that was heard around the room I wasn’t the only one that was feeling this way. Ron has had a mass of experience and showed video footage of real clients being treated with FFT® and the immediate effect that he had on their pain (you can view some of the videos on Ron’s website www.fft.net.au). In addition, and most impressively, Ron was also able to show real-time ultrasound imaging of how FFT® affects the connective tissue, muscles and fascia, and therefore how it works. Clinical studies are now being undertaken to prove the effects of FFT® and these were also outlined by Ron. Perhaps the best way that Ron demonstrated the effectiveness of his method was to try it out on people with pain. So he asked for volunteers from the class with any type of musculoskeletal pain, he treated both upper and lower limb injuries using FFT® taking pain from 6/10 to levels 1-2/10 just with the application of a few pieces of tape.

So what is special about this tape? The amazing thing about FFT® is that there is nothing special about the tape at all. Unlike many of the new taping techniques that are coming onto the market it does not rely on expensive next generation tape and expensive tools. The tape that is used for FFT® uses normal patella tape and normal zinc-oxide tape that is already found in all good soft-tissue clinics. So in effect it is not the tape but the way in which the tape is applied that is the real advantage of FFT®. This provides a benefit for both the therapist and the client, it means that you don’t have to pay £8+ per roll of tape as you do with other new taping techniques and it is simple enough to apply that the client can apply it to themselves or partners or relatives can be shown how to apply it to the client. The tape itself stays on for a couple of days to begin with and is then reapplied if necessary.

So what exactly is FFT®? Well as far as the client is concerned it is a technique where the therapist tries to reproduce the pain that is felt during a movement or action. The therapist then tries to reduce the pain and increase the range of motion by applying tension to the skin and other connective tissues. Tape is the applied, sometimes quite a bit, and the pain is reduced or gone completely.

In our own clinic we have been using FFT® on a whole variety of clients with all sorts of ailments. We have taken runners with plantarfasciitis and taken them form hobbling into the clinic with a pain level of 8/10 to being able to run by the end of the session pain free. We have worked on torn hamstrings, grade II tears, and increased pain free range of motion by 20 degrees. Shoulder injuries, calf injuries, shin splints, tennis elbow, quadriceps injuries have all responded really well to FFT®. We have even used FFT® on ourselves!

FFT® allows us to reduce the clients pain, increase their range of motion and get then into rehabilitation faster than we otherwise would have been able to do. It has allowed is to have a major impact on long-standing chronic injuries that we have problems dealing with, especially repetitive strain injuries like plantarfacitis. And best of all, the taping itself is a form of treatment and will help the injury heal faster. We can still us the FFT® method to restrict movement and Ron Alexander has developed the principles of FFT® to include a Functional Restrictive Taping method which in our opinion is far superior to traditional taping.

Clinically Corina and I are using FFT® a great deal and we are incorporating it into much of our work with injuries. We have had amazing results and have had many partners and other family members into the clinic to be shown how to apply the tape correctly for ongoing treatment.

Corina and I have travelled all over the world attending courses and very few have had such an immediate effect on the way that we treat Functional Fascial Taping® has become one of our favourite tools when dealing with any type of soft-tissue injuries, it is fast, effective and it really does work!

Alan and Corina Lunn are recognised by The Ron Alexander Institute in Australia as practitioners of Functional Fascial Taping® and endorsed by Ron Alexander.