Taping

With tape, you can immobilize a joint, support muscles, and also stimulate fluid drainage in a body part.

Roughly speaking, there are two different types of tape: rigid non-elastic tape and elastic stretch tape.

Non-elastic tape

The classic white sports tape is still regularly used to tape a sprained ankle, for example. This tape is not elastic and can be useful to limit a joint in its mobility. However, this can also be a disadvantage. Sometimes we do want to support a joint but not limit its freedom of movement. Moreover, the strain on the skin from non-elastic tape is very high because it can pull strongly on the skin. This can cause small wounds.

Elastic tape

For these reasons, tape has been developed that is elastic and can be seen as a sort of second skin. This tape comes in all kinds of different colors and patterns. The tape can be applied with more or less stretch, and the taped body part can still be moved afterward. If all goes well, moving may even go better or with less pain than without tape.

Not only joints but also muscles, connective tissue, scars, or lymph vessels can be influenced with this tape.

The tape technique used depends on the nature and location of the symptom. Taping is part of a treatment in which the cause of the injury must also be addressed. This can be done, for example, with exercises or other physiotherapeutic treatment techniques.