Kinesio UK is proud to be supporting DMP Sharks for the duration of their 2014 / 2015 season.
DMP Sharks - or to call them by official name: Darlington Mowden Park Ladies - is a women's rugby team associated with Darlington Mowden Park Rugby Club, based at the Northern Echo Arena in Darlington.
The team plays in the Women's Rugby Premiership, which is the top league in the UK and four of their players - Katy McLean, Ruth Laybourn, Tamara Taylor and Heather Kerr - are in the England Squad. Katy McLean is also the England captain.
More than 18,000 women and girls in England play rugby regularly now and England Women won the Rugby World Cup in 2014 - so there is bound to be a great deal of interest this season, as well as lots of support from Kinesio UK!
DMP Sharks have been on the road a lot this year travelling to away matches in London, Kent and Bristol so Kinesio Tape before and particularly after matches is essential to prevent injuries becoming worse in transit.
Team Sports Therapist, Amy Brown says: "Before Kinesio UK stepped in to help us we were trying it out and the players loved it. I now tape at least four girls with Kinesio before every match or training session and they all find it beneficial and are even queuing up waiting for me to tape them when I arrive! I use Kinesio on a wide range of injuries in rugby including: joint support; ligament injuries; bruising; muscle strains, muscle education and biomechanical issues. The beauty of it is that it can be used all over the body - literally wherever there's an injury - even on the soles of feet or on the face. It not only relieves pain and tension in the affected area and reduces bruising considerably, but it supports muscles and joints in injury so players feel a lot more confident while wearing it."
Flanker for DMP Sharks Jo Brown (21) is a final year sports therapy student at Teesside University and played for England U20 team. She also swims, sails, plays football and runs, but of all these sports, rugby appeals the most because, as she says: "There's such a huge team camaraderie in rugby, like no other game I've experienced. For the duration of the game, nothing else matters and we will literally throw ourselves on the line for the game and for our fellow players."
As a result of aggressive tackles, falls, whacks, being trodden on, throwing themselves on the line and all the other things that happen in rugby, the girls experience numerous injuries which Kinesio can help straight away.
Injuries this season at DMP Sharks so far have mainly been through impact although some problems have been caused by overuse and strain.
Jo Brown often suffers from tight hamstrings and gluts. She wears Kinesio Tape religiously without fail during every match and says: "If I play without Kinesio Tape I can't walk after 30 minutes - it's as simple as that! Wearing it allows me to play to my optimum level for the duration of the game. We've tried other tape, but nothing does the job better than Kinesio and the girls totally rely on it now. The props use it on their necks and I see many of the team are now wearing it on their shoulders during matches for extra support."
Jo has studied a KT1 course herself (the basic Kinesio Taping training course) while studying sport therapy because Kinesio Taping application courses are now available to sports therapy students at an increasing amount of universities throughout the UK. She says: "I'm very pleased this qualification and training was offered to me as a student at Teesside, because so many athletes ask to be Kinesio Taped, and it's very much more effective if you know exactly how it works for specific injuries". It will also help me professionally as it gives me a highly sought after qualification and means I won't need to enrol on a KTA course after graduating, as many sports therapists do."
For more information on DMP Sharks go to http://www.mowdenpark.com/l/team-latest-13432.html
For more information on Kinesio Taping or to enrol on a course, go to www.kinesiotaping.co.uk
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