It started showing up at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008: The athletic tape stuck to the arms, legs and torsos of the world’s greatest athletes that didn’t look like any tape jobs that came before. The tape, sometimes brightly colored, didn’t wrap around joints or muscles. It was cut into odd shapes. It didn’t seem to serve any purpose.
Kinesiology tape, designed by Japanese chiropractor and acupuncturist Kenzo Kase, is a latex-free hypoallergenic cotton fiber tape with a heat activator on one side. After bursting onto the scene, it became a sensation with professional athletes and weekend sportsmen looking for the new edge – sales tripled by 2012 – but six years after the splash there’s still debate among sports medicine professionals on whether it actually does anything.
Here’s the way it’s supposed to work: According to its designers, the tape can be stretched more than half of its resting shape. Stretched, then placed on afflicted areas, it pulls the upper layers of skin. That, designers say, allows for better drainage of lymph cells and other fluids around injured muscles and joints. That, marketers claim, leads to better muscle performance and reduced fatigue.
It’s also supposed to affect nerve receptors, relieving pain.
As with any new development in sports medicine, the tape has drawn a lot of attention from the medical community. Several studies have been launched to look at the tape’s claims.
All have been inconclusive so far.
According to physical therapist Stacey McConnell with St. Elizabeth Sports Medicine, that’s not a surprise.
“That’s about where everyone is right now. It’s still very unproven,” he said.
“Top athletes continue to use it because if they try something nontraditional and they think it works, they’re going to keep using it,” he said. A placebo effect, which several studies have credited with any effect of the tape, may be at play.
And, of course, there’s money to be made from sponsorships, McConnell added.
“Then [Kinesio’s use] trickles down to athletes at lower levels because they see the pros using it. We do know there is some effect on sensory input, but we can’t really stand behind Kinesio on doing everything that it claims,” he said. “It’s not stabilizing anything. It’s not binding anything. It’s working at only a very shallow dermatological level, so I can’t see the benefit.”
Until Kinesiology tape is medically proven, McConnell said, it’s best to stick with good old athletic tape wraps.
