We have all looked on TV and seen pro athletes getting their ankles taped, or the Olympic athletes with the colorful tape all over their bodies. Athletic injury tape is used to provide additional support for injuries that athletes can play through. You may be considering using some yourself, and it is essential you know what they do and how you can use athletic injury tape.
Athletic injury tape is meant to support muscles. The same way that a brace can support a knee, athletic injury tape is a much less invasive form of support. A brace can often feel bulky and unnatural, whereas with tape you forget it is even on. It starts to feel like a second skin, and that is to the advantage of an athlete because you don’t want to be thinking about an injured area.
What Are The Types of Athletic Injury Tape?
White Athletic Injury Tape
Athletic tape is usually white, and it is meant to provide support to joints. The most common is ankle taping. If your ankle ligaments are struggling with stabilizing the ankle joint, you are susceptible to an ankle sprain.
By adding athletic tape, you add support to the ankle, and the tape acts like the ligaments. The problem with relying on the tape is that the muscles and ligaments are not forced to get stronger this way.
The critical difference between athletic tape and Kinesio tape is that it is not stretchy. It is meant to support like a brace
Kinesio Athletic Injury Tape
Kinesio tape is a stretchy tape that is laid on the skin. It is not made for joints as much as it much more for and muscle tissue. What the tape does is raise the surface up just enough to create separation between the skin and the muscle to decrease inflammation. It supports the body like athletic tape, but it does so without restricting natural movements.
Brands of Kinesio Tape
When to Use Athletic Injury Tape?
Both tapes can be used for practically any injury. The main thing you need to think about is the range of motion that you need to be successful. When football players tape their ankle, for example, it is worth them losing a bit of ankle mobility for the stability due to the nature of the sport. In track and field though it would be hard to perform your best with a taped ankle because you need your ankles to move.
White athletic injury tape will do a much better job of stopping movement. If you have a knee injury and you want to keep the knee stable athletic tape is better. But if you say a pitcher with an elbow injury athletic tape would restrict movement so much that throwing would not be feasible at a high level.
Can I Apply Athletic Injury Tape Myself?
It is possible to apply athletic injury tape on your own, but it is not recommended. People spend hours being trained and even more, time to practice these different muscular injury taping methods. For examples, athletic trainers with D1 football programs, take classes on athletic injury taping and then have to tape football players every day for practice. Most teams have more than 100 players, and they need to be taped twice a day for training.
For you to try and watch a YouTube video and the start of taping yourself is risky. The reason is that most videos are made taping other people, and it will take a lot of practice to get good at it.
Ideally, you want to find a sports medicine healthcare provider to help you with this. The first reason is they can help you figure out what if you even need tape, what type of tape you need and then the type of tape job that will do the best job.
What If You Can’t Use Athletic Injury Tape On Your Own?
Sometimes you can ice all you want, but a muscle is in pain because another area is not working or because it is protecting you or it need external support from tape. With the hips, for example, your back may be hurting because your psoas is doing too much work and it is also tight. The psoas may be doing too much work because your other hip flexors are not activating correctly. The chain reaction could keep going.
Sometimes you need the help of a sports medicine provider. Sports medicine providers are used to working with athletes that need to get results quickly, to get back on the field. If you are not an athlete, I am sure that you still want quick results.
There are many different options you can go with when looking for a provider. You could get a chiropractor, massage therapist, physical therapist or many other options. The key is finding someone you trust and that you are excited to work with.
How to Find The Best Healthcare Providers to Apply Athletic Injury Tape
9INE POINT Health is the best place to find the health care providers you need for any injuries. It does not matter where you are hurting; a 9INE POINT Health provider will be able to get you healthy again. 9INE POINT allows you to find the best local providers and compare them quickly using the 9INE POINT Number.
If you have no idea what you need, but you know you need something, 9INE POINT Health is an injury guide, and you will get helped through the process. We make it easier for you to find the information and the person you are looking for.
Skills to Look for in a Healthcare Provider in Addition to Athletic Injury Tape:
- Active Release Technique
- Graston Technique
- Acupuncture
- Massage
- Fascial Stretch Therapy
- Corrective exercises
- Dry Needling
- Sports Background
- Functional Movement Screen
- And more
KHO Health was acquired by was acquire by 9INE POINT in the summer of 2019 and is now referred to as 9INE POINT Health.
