In the same spirit of the cupping thread, you see a lot of athletes at the Olympics wearing kinesio tape. It’s nothing new & has been around for a while, but being on the world stage it got me thinking again. Is this stuff really worth it, or is it a bunch of snake oil? What would be an actual practical use and need for this stuff in running, biking, or triathlon?
For tape to work it needs to actually apply some sort of force to the tissue it is applied to. Ankle taping with a stiff tape works. Applying stretchy tape that claims to “lift the skin” does nothing. This is because there is no
personally I think its placebo.
I had my knee taped after having some issues with it last year. It felt a lot like wearing a light knee brace. That being said, it was applied by someone who had done it thousands of times. I am not sure I would have the same or any results if I would have done it.
People buy it so they can look like a real athlete.
I’ve seen some really interesting things when our therapists tape.
E.g. They can apply a grid pattern that helps remove bruising and swelling and when you remove the tape the bruising and swelling are gone / significantly reduced in that area and not in adjacent areas etc.
They do, however, go to classes to learn about application.
I think that for the correct situations with a knowledgeable individual, then yes it is worthwhile.
However, most people “just slapping it on” aren’t getting much effect.
I’ve had tape placed by my PT when I was going through ankle rehab. It was done to relieve pressure on some areas and it actually did feel like it provided some relief. Can’t say it would help during actual hard/strenuous physical activity since I wasn’t able to run but it helped relax some areas that were sore and overworked for compensating for my bad ankle.
KT tape is amazing at preventing my neck from chaffing with my wetsuit on long swims (rock tape actually). Other than this for me it hasn’t really don’t anything.
I gave it a couple tries applied by a knowledgable guy and found it to be horseshit. Didn’t even receive the placebo effect. Looks cool though that way we can continue to complain about a nagging injury. 
Is it a miracle cure? No - won’t magically fix a torn muscle. However, it can help you through some things. My n=1:
This past spring I was prepping for my an open marathon, and was building some decent mileage, but I had a nagging hamstring that would tighten up at times and leave me dead in the water: one day I made it all of .7 miles from the house on a 15 miler, and had to do the walk of shame home.
My girlfriend suggested I try the KT Tape, and after watching some of their videos on their website, she applied it to the affected hammy. That was first of April. I made it through all of April without missing a training run after that, including an open half, and was feeling pretty strong going into the marathon. The Thursday before the race (on Sunday), I ran my last tune-up at a local group run, and it was the first run that I had done in those 5 weeks without the KT Tape. Made it through to mile 6, including some Tempo/race pace stuff, and at the top of the hill, my hammy locked up tight once more. I hobbled back, but was beside myself at the thought of not being able to run the race, as well as that I was stupid (for many reasons). Honey taped me back up the pre-race, though and that hamstring felt great at the end of the marathon, and I pr’d by about 8 minutes. However, my other hamstring (and just about the entire rest of me) felt like total dog-shit (I think I was so worried about the tight hammy that I ran extremely tensed up and things just didn’t like life at that point).
tl/dr: It held my hamstring together during a month of marathon training as well as through the marathon. I’m a believer. Just follow the instructional videos on the KT Tape website and you’ll have no issues.
Also, honey has some sort of thing going on in her elbow, and I tape that for her all the time; she swears by it, as well.
Isn’t the hotties thread 3 posts down?
More seriously, I would doubt that it provides any real support. What it may do is provide proprioceptive feedback reminding you “don’t over do it here”. Like a coach/doc correcting form on the fly. Heck, I wonder if they’d be a better tool for teaching technique than using it for “therapy”.
I get value out of it from proprioception (bum right shoulder and the tape helps give me a sense that I’m moving things in a way that may lead to more pain) and have also had some luck masking very minor pain on insertional achilles tendonitis. ymmv
My n=3 is it has helped me with calf and Achilles issue, has helped my wife with lower back issues and a friend with lower leg pain.
I’ll use it when I need it and it has helped me so far.
Achilles help for me on both of them…just feels more supportive and got me to and thru my 100 last summer. I would suppose for some things it works better than it does in other areas. It doesn’t heal you but it does provide “help” I believe and like ice and anti-inflammatories can be integrated into the training to get you to your race.
I used it for calf issues and it helped provide some additional support. I think the key is in how it is applied to the affected area rather than just slapping it on - a sports injury doc that I know showed me the proper way to apply for my calf and said to make sure it is consistently applied the same way each time. Just my $.02 USD
I used it last fall during the last few weeks before a marathon when runners knee popped up. I thought it worked to help support the knee and muscles around it. But that was a small area where doing a full back like that picture would be different.
In my book legit…when the application is needed and can help it…earlier this year in March (I posted on the forum) I strained a calf on the outside edge of it and had to limp/walk home for a mile from my 5 mile run. Took two weeks off and went to run again and it flared up. Someone recommended KT tape and tried it out. Never experienced the strain again during my runs and always wore it for any type of run. Fast forward to the end of July and I forgot to put it on my calf one day before just a short 4 mile run and I thought no big deal, my calf has felt great and it has been a while, well at about 3.5 miles in I could feel the twinges again and walked it in to not injure myself. That was the week before my ironman race so I was not smart and slightly stressed me out. I wore the tape pre race for the next week and during the race and never once felt it bothered at all. So I swear by the stuff. I need to get this fixed by strengthening or rest but during race season no way man!! Now if you have a torn hamstring??? don’t depend on some effing tape…
How in the hell do you get the stuff to stay on? I’ve tried it on my upper legs and couldn’t get it to stick for more than 20 minutes. Applied to clean, dry skin the night before a run and it was off in 30 minutes +/-. No idea how it doesn’t fall off in the water
Too many n=1 testimonies here.
Anyone in the medical profession who can weigh in?
Any coaches/PT out there with any links to any studies?
Shaved my calf area and would make sure to shower and then clean with rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab over the whole area to be taped. It would stay on easily for several days, more if I wanted to. They have video instructions on you tube. I always used KT pro tape pre cut strips