Whether in garish pink or tasteful beige, Kinesio tape provides pain relief for sports stars. And it works on dogs, says Japanese chiropractor Dr Kenzo Kase

• This article was the subject of piece by the Observer's readers' editor, published on 31 July 2011

It was hard to take your eyes off the American beach volleyball player Kerri "Six-Feet of Sunshine" Walsh at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The reason, beyond the barely-there swimsuit, was the bizarre crisscross strapping on her right shoulder that protected her rotator cuff surgery as she jumped, blocked and spiked her way to a second gold medal. It turned out that this was the same tape that had appeared, this time in garish pink, on David Beckham's lower back as he swapped shirts after a Real Madrid match the previous year. Cyclist Lance Armstrong had been so impressed that he praised its "magical powers" in his book Every Second Counts.

Now Kinesio tape is everywhere: on Spurs left-back Gareth Bale, in tasteful beige on Serena Williams's back at Wimbledon and patching up Linkin Park frontman, Chester Bennington, during gigs. Beyond the big-name endorsements, studies suggest that it does offer protection to injured muscles and joints – at least in the short term: a study of 42 people with shoulder problems in 2008 indicated that Kinesio taping offered immediate pain relief. It has recently become available in pre-cut strips in Boots.

Yet this "new" miracle treatment is actually more than 30 years old. Here, its inventor, the self-proclaimed "crazy like a fox" Japanese chiropractor Dr Kenzo Kase, explains the secret behind its slow-burn success.

How does Kinesio tape work?

I am a chiropractor and we cannot use drugs or surgery, so I was looking for a natural way to relieve pain. Your pain sensors are located between the epidermis and the dermis, the first and second layers of your skin, so I thought that if I applied tape to the pain it would lift the epidermis slightly up and make a space between the two layers. This would in turn allow blood to flow more easily to the injured area. But you can use the tape in lots of ways, depending on the width and the amount of stretch.

Why has it taken so long to make its breakthrough?

We started in Japan with sumo wrestlers. Their activity is so strong and heavy that they get injured in so many areas – knee, hamstring, ankle, shoulder, spine. I also think that in Japan we are very open to alternative treatments, whether it's shiatsu massage, acupuncture or herbal medicines; many people combine natural, traditional remedies with modern medicine. Europeans and Americans have perhaps taken longer to come round to that idea.

It's not only humans you treat with the tape, though, is it?

In 1987, my dog, a chihuahua, was attacked by a much bigger dog. It was really horrible, but I put the tape on and, after three or four days, he started jumping around again. We have also used the tape on dachshunds. As they get older, their abdominal muscles become weaker because they have such a long body and their backbones are separated very easily. I use the tape to reconstruct the abdominal area and make sure they do not overstretch.

You even treated a flamingo. Did you use the pink tape?

I'm not sure – that was a physical therapist at Detroit Zoo – but I believe it helped with knee problems. The only animal I won't help is a cockroach. The tape is waterproof, so it could even work on fish.

How did you pick the colours?

Beige is skin colour, so we started with that, but 20 years ago a schoolgirl in Japan complained to me that it looked miserable, it made her feel sick. So I picked shocking pink and blue. Then, about 10 years ago, athletes said that they didn't want those colours, they thought black looked much stronger, so I added that as well.

You have said that you do not suffer from jet lag – what's your secret?

I will be 69 in October and I visit 15 countries for work; that is too much travel for an old man. The reason we get jet lag is because we are at very high altitude and that causes our body temperatures to go up – you notice that kids don't really suffer from it, because their fluid maintenance is much better than old people's. So the first thing I do after flying is jump into cold water, even during winter. That brings my body temperature down and I don't have jet lag.

We should keep our body temperature low then?

Not low, but we should protect it from elevating too much. A lot of people take hot baths when they are tired, but I'm the opposite, I take a cold bath. It's an easy answer, but not always easy to do.

For more information, visit kinesiotaping.co.uk