What is NeuroMuscular Taping Concept?

NeuroMuscular Taping: An Innovative Treatment Method for Healthcare Professionals Worldwide

NeuroMuscular Taping (NMT) is a groundbreaking treatment technique now accessible to healthcare professionals globally. It can be defined as:

• A biomechanical therapy utilizing both decompressive and compressive stimuli to achieve beneficial effects on the musculoskeletal, vascular, lymphatic, and neurological systems.
• A specific application of elastic tape that creates wrinkles by lifting the skin, which facilitates venous and lymphatic drainage, improves blood circulation, and relieves pain.
• When applied correctly, it also aids in joint alignment, supports muscles during movement, and enhances stability and posture.

Evolution and Efficacy of NeuroMuscular Taping

Innovation in rehabilitation often follows paths outlined by research and clinical observation, which is how NeuroMuscular Taping (NMT) developed. Designed by David Blow in 2003, this method originated from the NMT Concept and has been successfully used in hospitals, clinics, and private practices by doctors, physiotherapists, speech therapists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. It is recognized as a supportive therapy in medical rehabilitation.

NMT involves applying adhesive tape in a specific manner to improve therapeutic results. Most protocols utilize a decompression method to reduce pain and facilitate recovery. In neurological rehabilitation, NMT protocols improve mobility and coordination while reducing pain. Proper tape application creates dilation, enhancing blood flow and lymphatic drainage, which is crucial in a progressive rehabilitation approach.

Unlike other techniques, NMT tape is applied to create waves and undulations activated through body movement. This “wave” pattern is not an error but ensures improved blood circulation and oxygenation of the area, promoting continuous drainage of the treated region. This principle, established by David Blow in 2003, forms the foundation of NMT.

Training and Professional Development

The effectiveness of NeuroMuscular Taping relies on specialized training. For years, David Blow has been dedicated to training doctors and rehabilitation professionals in NMT, sharing the therapeutic “know-how” and clinical results gained from years of experience and research in medical rehabilitation.

The NMT Institute, founded in Rome in 2003, and later expanded to New York in 2011, Jakarta in 2015, and South America in 2016, continues this philosophy. The Institute offers certified teaching programs, ensuring motivated, trained, qualified, and certified teachers who guarantee the acquisition of new skills in this effective treatment, ultimately enhancing professional status.

Our training courses address orthopedic and neurologic rehabilitation requirements. NMT complements manual and instrumental treatments, ensuring optimal results. The goal is to expand treatment options and improve recovery outcomes.

Specialization courses in the medical and rehabilitation fields are available, featuring specific training programs, learning verification, and updates. These courses follow a thorough training process, implementing learned techniques in designated treatment areas.

SAVA Rehabilitation Training Area and Programs

Rehabilitation Training Area and Programs in collaboration with the NeuroMuscular Taping Institute, was created to design, coordinate, and implement innovative medical and rehabilitation training activities. The final certification in NeuroMuscular Taping is divided into specific courses aimed at improving multidisciplinary treatments and deepening specialist understanding.

Distinctions Between NMT Concept and Other Taping Techniques

Modern taping techniques, developed in Japan and Korea over the past 40 years, are primarily compressive. Despite ancient origins dating back to Greece and Egypt, these techniques have mostly been applied in sports, emphasizing muscle contraction and stability over joints, often leading to excessive compression and reduced mobility.

In contrast, NeuroMuscular Taping (NMT) introduces a unique decompression and dilation methodology. Created by David Blow in 2003, NMT enhances clinical reasoning through specific decompression applications. This innovative rehabilitation method effectively reduces pain, addresses sports injuries, alleviates muscle tension, and enhances athletic performance and outcomes in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.

Unlike other taping forms, NMT starts with a comprehensive diagnosis, patient evaluation, and clear clinical objectives. Its primary focus is on neurological disorders and acute post-surgical rehabilitation, aiming to improve drainage, blood circulation, and overall recovery time.

NeuroMuscular Taping, combined with specific manual therapy techniques, is making significant inroads in physical rehabilitation, offering an effective, evidence-based approach to enhance the healing process and improve patients’ quality of life.

NeuroMuscular Taping (NMT) is a therapeutic rehabilitation concept grounded in patient evaluation, clear therapeutic objectives, and treatment choices aimed at improving patient recovery. Only professionals skilled in rehabilitation can correctly apply NMT to achieve optimal results. Often, other forms of taping yield poor results due to insufficient reasoning, evaluation, and incorrect application, leading to improper stimulation.

Core Principles and Application of NMT

Correct NMT application is based on precise knowledge of skin elasticity lines, muscle structure, and anatomy. The NeuroMuscular Taping Concept has expanded understanding and knowledge of cutaneous elasticity, essential for proper application. NMT is an extracutaneous stimulation method, leveraging the skin’s extensive sensory properties related to movement and positional awareness.

The tape is applied over the skin with specific objectives targeting the cutaneous, fascia, muscle, tendon, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, joints, or neurological pathways. The tape is never pulled, and its elasticity is rarely used. Instead, NMT Concept Taping extends the hands of doctors and therapists, working on the patient continuously for 24 hours a day.

Effectiveness in Various Rehabilitation Areas

In recent years, NeuroMuscular Taping has demonstrated significant results in post-surgical, orthopedic, and neurological rehabilitation. Conditions such as cardiovascular stroke, central nervous system and spinal trauma, pediatric cerebral palsy (CP), and degenerative neurological diseases are expensive to treat and require extensive time and resources, challenging many healthcare systems.

NeuroMuscular Taping is at the forefront of discovering new therapeutic techniques that improve patient outcomes without imposing significant economic burdens. As a non-invasive, non-pharmacological treatment system, NMT offers mechanical stimulation that promotes cellular metabolism and activates the body’s natural healing abilities by normalizing neuromuscular proprioception.

Global Acceptance and Training Programs

Since its introduction in 2003, NeuroMuscular Taping has been widely accepted by rehabilitation specialists in many countries. Every country faces the challenge of managing a growing population with increasingly complex health issues. Conditions such as stroke, cardiovascular disease, CP, autism, Down syndrome, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, and respiratory disease present current and future rehabilitation challenges. Cost-effective treatment options through professional training are essential for any government health service planning to address future needs.

NMT training programs are the result of dedicated and enthusiastic teaching staff and highly trained practitioners. Research and clinical studies from various health areas support the understanding of how NeuroMuscular Taping can enhance treatment choices. The NMT Know-How, clinical trials, and published articles on the effectiveness of NMT will guide you in making the best therapeutic decisions to improve patient outcomes.

Please view the REGISTER of NMT professionals trained in your area.