You guys, consider this blog my gift to you. I felt so compelled to write this because never have I been such an opponent, so filled with doubt and disbelief, only to be absolutely shocked and dumbfounded when I found myself using a product as a last resort. You see, I have never had any injury (I still don’t, just a small hiccup) and I am in my 40’s. I’m strong and healthy and my body responds accordingly. I see these young kids wrapped in tape and I shake my head. Why? How? How is it that in their teen years they are so “broken”? I legit thought Taping was a cry for help.
Enter July 2017. I started lifting for real. And, truth be told, I went hard with zero guidance. I’m on a mission, you see. Mortality is all around me. It’s not been a great past few years in terms of feeling invincible and I crave that feeling, even if I know it’s false. And so, since I lost a ton of weight, I deemed it time to start strength training. Now, if you know me, I don’t take anything slow, I go balls to the wall in everything I do. Lifting was no different.
And so, I screwed up my elbow doing entirely too many lateral lifts. The weight was minimal, like literally only 8 lbs. But, I did 10 reps of 15. I pushed through the pain in my elbow. Refusing to kowtow to something so lame. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Turns out, sometimes pain is an indicator of something being wrong, NOT of a need to push harder.
After much Googling, I found that I have tennis elbow and not a minor case. The pain is pretty intense. I have a very high pain tolerance and for this to actually be bothering me is significant.
So, I tried all the homeopathic remedies for tennis elbow. I’m a huge proponent of oils, they make my RV and my home smell amazing. However, they have never cured anyone in our house of anything. Oreganol Oil, being the only exception.
A list of homeopathic “cures” that didn’t help a lick, not the slightest with pain, but simply made me smell like … well … tons of oils.
doTERRA Deep Blue – Smells amazing, but costs like $30 and doesn’t work as well as Ben Gay or Tiger Balm!
doTERRA Aroma Touch – Nothing, it did nothing. At all.
Cypress Oil – Nada
Eucalyptus Oil – Zilch
Peppermint – Nope.
Frankincense – Nothing to see here.
Arnica – Tried it for sore muscles before, sorry to say, it has zero affect.
Cooper Tennis Elbow Brace – Total crap.
I was downing Advil and Tylenol like they were Lemon Drops. I was using our TENS machine, which works for everything except tendons. I was scouring the Internet. I was complaining a TON. I’d never been in chronic pain. Even kidney stones come and go.
Tennis Elbow was literally going to be my undoing.I spent several $100’s buying into homeopathy. I made an appointment with an acupuncturist, but then a friend with tennis elbow told me he tried it and it did nothing. You know what he told me to do? Try Taping.
I think I literally groaned. Taping. You’ve got to be kidding me? Not that “stupid tape”. But, you know, desperate times come for desperate measures, so while I was in Target shopping for a Kettle Ball (I don’t learn) I saw tape out of the corner of my eye. There were several brands, so I texted my pal and he said KT Tape Pro.
I axed the Kettle Ball, bought 3 new bras, a shirt, Pajamas and KT Tape. It remained unopened for over 1 week. Just sitting on the counter, it got moved to the RV and then it was temporarily lost, until it hurt to actually kayak.
Then, and only then, did I tape my elbow. And I cannot describe the shock I felt when it worked. I almost died from shock.
So, like, Taping works. The pain isn’t completely gone, but it is significantly reduced and it’s made it possible for me to kayak for hours twice daily with my family.
After my singing praise for Taping, Kady tried it. She taped her shoulder/neck because it was kinked and feeling stiff. Boom. After two days, no more stiffness, no more kink. She couldn’t believe it either.
I taped my shoulder a few days ago because I separated my ribs in a pretty epic snowboarding crash like 8 years ago and ever since, my shoulder has bothered me off and on. Way more off, but on that day, it was pestering me. So, what the hell, let’s give the tape a shot. Today, it’s like brand new.
I have no clue how it works or why Taping works, nor do I care really, although curiosity is getting the better of me, so if you know, please tell.
I just felt so compelled to tell y’all Taping is magic. It freaking works! And I want you to know, I have no affiliation with them either. I mean I wouldn’t steer you all wrong for anything, but you need to know, I’m shooting straight from the hip. Know that if I use something and it’s quality and it does what it says, I’ll tell ya.
And, if it doesn’t, I’ll tell ya that too (see above).
Now it’s your turn. What products do you love that you didn’t believe would ever work? Have you ever used tape? Did you believe it would work or were you just as surprised as me? Maybe you can explain the why and the how? Maybe I should just google it and not waste your time??