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Kevin Anderson tells Bdaily about Kinesio UK

Kevin Anderson, Managing Director of Kinesio UK, based at Quorum Business Park, Newcastle, talks to B Daily.

KinesioTape is the therapeutic answer to everyday injuries in all ages. It is composed of elasticised, latex-free cotton and creates a lifting effect on skin that improves circulation and relieves pain. Available in bright colours and popular with athletes and footballers, it is now used in the NHS and private clinics throughout the country and throughout Europe, India, South Africa and the US. Kinesio Tape was developed in Japan over 40 years ago and introduced into the UK in 2004 by businessman Kevin Anderson who based Kinesio UK in Newcastle. High Street chemist Boots now exclusively stocks “pre-cut” Kinesio Tape for back, shoulder, neck, knee, hand and foot for £5.99.

What key challenges has your company recently faced?

Marketing a therapeutic product in the UK is quite tricky. Due to high investment by the pharmaceutical industry, there is a very strong culture of using medicinal drugs to relieve common ailments. However with high profile footballers like Gareth Bale using Kinesio Taping successfully for sports injuries, and with many physiotherapists now using it to effectively treat painful conditions from carpel tunnel syndrome and runners knee to plantar fasciitis and lower back pain, we’re now seeing much more interest in Kinesio Tape as an effective treatment for many different everyday conditions.

The request from Boots last year to stock “pre-cut” varieties of Kinesio Tape throughout the UK was a great opportunity for us, but organising the appropriate packaging and merchandising in time for Boots’
deadline was a real challenge. For a small company, it also takes high levels of organisation to ensure the supply logistics and high levels of support demanded by Boots in order to compete with large companies
such as Proctor and Gamble and Unilever. Fortunately we have achieved this and stocks of pre-cut are now selling very well with our knee application the best seller so far.

What is your biggest achievement over the past 12 months?

Our biggest achievement is undoubtedly supplying Boots throughout the UK with pre-cut Kinesio Tape and for achieving 100% compliance in supply. We’re also thrilled to have worked closely with the FA and have trained over 100 physiotherapists from UK Premiership clubs to grass roots football in Kinesio Taping application techniques.

We’ve had one or two unexpected results too. Many practitioners have found that applying Kinesio Taping to the neck alleviates the pain of tension headaches dramatically. In addition, equine physiotherapists have
been using Kinesio Taping on racehorses with amazing results .Bruising and swelling on horses’ injuries has been much reduced and recovery time much quicker than when using traditional tape. This is a great breakthrough and demonstrates that Kinesio Taping is so much more than a brightly coloured bandage.

What is your biggest focus for the coming year?

We’re very excited about London 2012 and are pleased to have trained many physiotherapists and chiropractors contracted to Team GB. As a result I think we’ll be seeing lots of brightly coloured Kinesio Taping this summer on a variety of different athletes, from runners and swimmers to triathletes, javelin throwers and maybe even horses too!

This year we’ll also be concentrating on promoting Kinesio Taping as the ideal, effective therapeutic taping for all the family. It’s already used in paediatric units and in the treatment of the elderly because it’s light
and comfortable to wear and doesn’t restrict movement – you can literally mend on the move. Now we want to see it in every family’s first aid kit.

If you had to choose one top piece of advice for someone starting out in business, what would it be?

I have four pieces of advice – all equally important!

1. Be patient in terms of growth. Two people attended our first Kinesio Taping Course in 2005. Now we have to turn people away.

2. Don’t expect to make money in the beginning.

3. Don’t be afraid to buy in expert help in areas where you’re not confident

4. No matter what business you’re running, the support of friends and family is invaluable.

Can you share with us your view of the current landscape of business, in this region or generally and where your organisation sits within it?

There are so many great companies and excellent business people in this area and I’m not surprised that the North East is one of the leading export regions of the UK. Part of Kinesio UK’s success is attributable to our ability to work with many other excellent local businesses, for instance for packaging design, logistics support and marketing, to build up our business.
There is still too much reliance on the public sector in the North East but hopefully we are beginning to see more private investment and many more entrepreneurs in the region now. I’d like to think that Kinesio UK
is a great example of a small, ambitious North East company that is going places and putting the region on the map.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .