Athletic taping

Introduction
Athletic taping is the process of applying tape directly to the skin in order to maintain a stable position of bones and muscles during athletic activity. The general goals of athletic taping are to restrict the motion of injured joint, compress soft tissues to reduce swelling, support anatomical structure involved in the injury, serve as a splint of to secure a splint, secure dressing or bandages, protect the injured joint from re-injury, and protect the injured part while the injured part is in the healing process.

Advantages of Athletic Taping
Injury Prevention: Athletic taping is recognized as one of the top preventative measures for reduction of injuries in collision sports. These injuries often occur as a result of extrinsic factors such as collision with other players or equipment. Athletic taping has also been shown to reduce the severity in injuries, as well as the occurrence of injury in most sports. Preventative taping may also decrease the prevalence of chronic or overuse injuries in joints such as the ankle or wrist. Injury Management: Tape is often applied to manage symptoms of chronic injuries such as medial tibial stress syndrome (or shin splints), patella-femoral syndrome, and turf-toe. Athletic tape can be applied to ease pain symptoms as well. Taping along the nerve tract of irritated or inflamed tissue can shorten the inflamed region and reduce pain.

Other post-injury benefits include: 1) stabilizing and supporting joints after injuries to the muscle or ligament; 2) assisting and allowing the athlete to return to activity after minor injuries; 3) preventing and reducing further harm to injured area; 4) maintaining proper biomechanics during activity; 5) preventing neuromuscular damage; and 6) reducing force on the area during activity.

Disadvantages of Athletic Taping

 * Incorrect athletic taping may lead to blistering or future injuries.
 * After activity and motion begins, the stiffness of the tape reduces.
 * Physiological dependency on using tape
 * Expensive, especially when it is needed frequently

Techniques
There are set regulations and rules that govern the athletic taping techniques used by trainers and health professionals. There are a few aspects of athletic taping that are standardized.
 * 1) Skin preparation: Removal of hair, cleaning of skin, addressing of any lesions with necessary consultation, using adherents and lubricants, underpads, etc.
 * 2) Functional position of the body to be taped: The athlete’s position depends on the area getting taped.
 * 3) Body mechanics of the trainer/taper: The athlete must be at a comfortable height in order to reduce fatigue over long periods of taping time.
 * 4) Athletic tape application: Athletic tape must be adhered to a dry and clean area of the body at body temperature to bare skin or pre-wrap in order to prevent slippage and to maintain the effectiveness and rigidity of the wrap. The type and width of the athletic tape must be appropriate (able to strap the given body part suitable) for the area being taped. Areas subject to high friction should be reinforced with protective padding or under-wrap. Athletic tape should be applied: film and wrinkle free; without impairment of circulation, nerves, or muscle movement; and without pressure on body prominences.
 * 5) Removal: Removal of the athletic tape post athletic activity should be done with tape cutters (sometimes known as ‘Sharks’) or special tape scissors. The skin must be free of tape residue.

Types of Athletic Tape
Standard Athletic Tape is classified by the following characteristics:
 * Number of vertical (warp) and horizontal (woof) threads per square inch. These threads vary from 120 to 150 per square inch. A higher thread count is synonymous with a higher quality including higher tensile strength, better adhesive, easier removal, longer lasting, and more expensive.
 * Tensile strength
 * Composition: bleached versus unbleached cotton; cotton versus synthetic fibers versus a blend of both.

Kinesiotape is another form of athletic taping. Results from studies have shown that kinesiotape is beneficial in the following areas. Kinesiotape can be worn up to five days despite vigorous, sweat inducing activity. It improves lymphatic drainage, minimizing swelling and bruising. Kinesiotape improves blood flood to the soft tissue it covers, as well as has a numbing effect. The numbing effect happens as the tape lifts the skin, thus decreasing pressure on pain receptors. Kinesiotape allows full range of motion of the area it has covered while also providing support for the area. Kinesiology tape also increases an athlete’s awareness of their body proprioception, thus increased the interplay between individuals’ neurological system, as well as muscular systems. When comparing kinesiotape, standard athletic tape, no tape, and placebo tape and reported that there were no negative effects during functional performance tests. Improvements were seen in performance with kinesiotape was used.