This past weekend I took a taping seminar in Tampa with Dr. Gregory Doerr, the co-founder of FAKTR. In addition to writing the FAKTR classes, Dr. Doerr wrote a taping class called Functional Taping for Musculoskeletal Injuries or FTMI. The class started with the question, “Why do you tape?”

Taping has three types of applications: microcirculatory, neurosensory, and structural. Practitioners should apply tape only if the application is appropriate for the patient, and we can do that through brief orthopedic testing. We are taught kinesiology taping in the curriculum, however, taking a certification class will always help better one’s understanding of any topic. Dr. Doerr uses these taping techniques every day in his office. I personally had the pleasure of shadowing him in New Jersey, and was able to see him evaluate and treat patients using the same taping applications he showed us in the seminar. The taping class he wrote is made up of tape jobs he came up with, as well as specific applications from other taping classes such as FMT, Kinesio Taping®, and Spider-tech.

We were shown about 80 tape jobs throughout the class and we were able to practice the tape jobs after each demonstration. By the end of the weekend, we were shown how to tape almost every body part and given an evaluation to determine if the application would be beneficial. It was incredible to see the changes the tape made from the pre-application test to the post-application test. The class really reinforced how powerful the modality of taping truly is.

This is my second certification and the coolest part is having both FAKTR and FTMI gives me the Functional Soft Tissue certification. Just another certification to add to my curriculum vitae to show my capabilities. Our professors at NUHS have certifications of their own including board certifications. Some of the professors are also instructors for technique classes and teach on the weekends.

After the first day of the seminar, my colleagues and I went to historic Ybor City, a historic district in Tampa. We stopped by Coppertail Brewery and finished our night with a late dinner at a local restaurant. Ybor is another location in the Tampa Bay area with tons of fun things to do.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me at [email protected]