Taping

What is taping?

Taping is a popular adjunct (accessory) to sports therapy and physiotherapy treatments and is generally used in prevention or rehabilitation of injuries.

Taping is normally a cheaper alternative to medical braces and orthoses that are used to temporarily immobilise, restrict movement or ‘aid recovery in other ways’ of a joint or muscle injury.

There is good evidence that taping helps prevent ankle injuries and is used in every field sport I know. When I was working for a football team some players would swear taping stopped them ‘turning’ their ankles and I would have to tape both ankles up before every game… for 10 years!  Having said that i would always advocate strengthening your ankle muscles and improving balance & proprioception as 100% more beneficial long term.

Taping is also commonly used in sport for prevention of shoulder, knee, finger and wrist injuries, however evidence for effectiveness is more anecdotal than for ankle taping.  When treating an injury, taping can be used to reduce pain by restricting or facilitating certain movements which in turn will potential decrease recovery time after injury.

There are various types of ‘medical’ tapes available that we use depending on need but they can be split into 4 categories:

Zinc Oxide

Is a non-stretch tape primarily used to immobilise or severely restrict certain movements. Popularly used for ankle ‘stirrups’.

Elasticated Adhesive Bandage (EAB)

As name suggests is a stretchy sticky bandage which can be directly used to securely cover wound dressings and other tapes and protect parts of the body. Can also facilitate movement in joints and restrict movement but still have a some ‘give’ when some movement is still required.

Cohesive bandage

Relatively new type of tape used for the same purposes as EAB however it only sticks to itself rather than skin so popular in sport if you wont quick removal or are very hairy and don’t want to shave!

Kinesiology Tape

An even newer type with brand names such as ‘K-Tape’, ’Miracle Tape’ or ‘RockTape’. Generally noticed in different colours on various sports stars. It is normally more light weight than other tape and is not designed to prevent or restrict movement. Research into this type of tape is limited as it’s still relatively new on the market, however its thought that it can improve local lymph drainage and circulation and reduce minor muscular aches and pains. I do occasionally use this but as stated at start it is only an accessory to the main treatment of manual therapy and exercise!