I’m not sure how many of the events I watched during this summer’s Olympics. More than I should have probably, but I did watch a bit from the seat of a stationary bike so maybe it isn’t too bad. But as we watch the closing ceremony on Sunday, I bet we won’t see one of the new stars that was made. I mean cotton. What? You didn’t see it? I saw a whole lot of it but until cotton friend Wes Underwood drew it my attention to it, I hadn’t realized it.

photo via cc from mikep on Flicker

Okay, I know there was a lot of performance wear on athletes. You see uniforms know with slick stripes for aerodynamics or to help ensure they glide the swimmer through the water. Those aren’t cotton. And most of the athletes wore the gray jackets which also appeared to be mostly man-made materials. However, cotton was seen in the pool, on the volleyball and basketball courts, throughout track and field events, on soccer fields and more.

It’s everywhere: on abs, legs, backs, even backsides.

The neon tape swathing sprinters and swimmers alike, called Kinesio, is taking London by storm.

“It’s all over the Olympics,” said Dr. Jennifer Solomon of New York City’s Hospital for Special Surgery. “Athletes love it.”

Developed by a Japanese chiropractor, Kinesio claims to cut pain and boost performance. And judging by its prominence at this year’s Games, athletes think it works.

“If you ask them, they say it does,” said Solomon, team physician for the U.S. Tennis Association. “But there’s no solid scientific evidence that this tape helps.”

Crafted from cotton and medical grade adhesive, Kinesio is more flexible than traditional tape. And when strategically strewn along injured muscles, its gentle tug promotes circulation to help clear out damage, according to its maker.

via Injured Olympians Turn to Tape: The Sticky Science of Kinesio – ABC News.

Looking around to learn more I found more and more elaborate placings of the tape and find it interesting that the folks behind Kinesio do training sessions as the tape should be placed in certain ways based on the injury, muscles, joints, etc. Some of the designs at the Olympics have almost look artistic as you see six-packs striped and shoulders sculpted.

Kinesio describes the tape as “elastic therapeutic taping” as being made of gentle cotton fiber that can be worn for 3 to 5 days providing 24 hour treatment. On the website, they highlight several points on what it does on the website including:

• It creates a lifting effect on the skin’s surface, which improves circulation and relieves pain.
• It may be applied using different amounts and directions of tension, so the tape has the ability to relax or stimulate muscles.
• It does not limit the wearer?s range of motion.
• The distinctive wave-pattern weave moves with the wearer?s movements.

It seems that this is the latest thing athletes feel improves performance. It’s hard to tell where science ends and the power of positive thinking begins. And I bet this will be much like those necklaces you couldn’t help but notice in the World Series, they will be showing up on courts, diamonds, pools and all in our own neighborhoods. Products like this don’t have to be reviewed by the FDA (which reviews foods and drugs that make health claims) but it seems clear, athletes think these things make a difference and performance has such a mental component that maybe you see athletes excel if they’ve had a recent stress taped.

I have to say, I think this may be found in a lot of other areas of life, not just sports. If a mental or emotional component leads someone to think something is better, then it truly is better for them. It just may not translate to being better for all of us. And it may not be proved through science. There may be some science there, just not indesputable. On other things, full scientific packages have been reviewed and found solid by some and yet that still isn’t enough for others. A lack of scientific support surely doesn’t mean we won’t see it anymore.

Related articles

• What the Olympics Can Teach about Humanizing our Company Brand (brianvickery.com)
• Olympic Gymnastics and Branding – Deductions Keep You From the Gold (brianvickery.com)
• The Silent Star of the 2012 Olympics: Kinesio Tape (washingtonian.com)
• Kinesio tape: The latest Olympic accessory (cnn.com)

The post That Bright Tape so Many Olympic Athletes Have On is Made of Cotton! appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

There is something about the World Series. I can’t put my finger on it but it draws me in time and time again. Even if I haven’t watched much baseball during the season, the playoff season tends to grab me even if my team is totally out of it. I admit it. I am a baseball fan. I love agriculture and the two things sort of merged in a post I wrote this spring cause it was clear that spring training was much like farming to me. And as we look at the final few games of major league baseball this year, it seems appropriate that farmers are harvesting their crops across the country.

But across the Cotton Belt, and actually across farms across the U.S., farmers are picking sides. I see it in my Facebook feed and my tweets every game. On the surface, most people would assume cotton farmers divide their allegiance between the teams in the heart of the Cotton Belt. The teams that come to mind are the Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Arizona Diamondbacks…. but you may not know how many in the Cotton Belt are also fans of the St. Louis Cardinals. There are a few reasons:

• A lot of Southerners came through St. Louis when they migrated north seeking jobs. This was especially the case with industrialization.
• There is a big gap in the “Mid-South” where there are no major league teams. St. Louis is the closest drive for many people in the southern area of the Mississippi River states.
• Several players have come from the Mid-South.
• Memphis has the Cardinals’ AAA farm team — The Memphis Redbirds — that has sent several players up.

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that farmers in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and other states are pulling for the Cardinals…. and some of them are showing it in unique ways. Check out what my friend Tracey Sullivan saw while driving on Highway 51 near Ripley! I’d say that cotton farmer really loves the Cardinals! (If you know cotton farmers who are cheering for the Rangers in such dramatic fashion, I’d be willing to give them a nod too.)

How do you show your pride in sports teams?

STL Cardinals on a cotton module

Related articles

• Swing Batter, Batter — The St. Louis Cardinals Showcase Pork Safe at the Plate (agchat.org)
• How the Rangers and Cardinals Got Their Nicknames (suburbanmen.com)
• St. Louis Cardinals at Texas Rangers (fanup.wordpress.com)
• Pujols’ historic HR night carries Cardinals in Game 3 (nbcsports.msnbc.com)
• Cardinal Conquest: Albert Pujols Hits Three Home Runs in Record-Breaking Game (newsfeed.time.com)

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