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What Is Therapeutic Taping?

Therapeutic Taping is the application of an adhesive tape to a body part to provide support, stability, or facilitate recovery from injuries while allowing functional movement. The technique is often used in conjunction with other therapeutic interventions to aid in the rehabilitation process and used extensively during rehabilitation to reduce the risk of reinjury.

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Taping provides support to an injured body part and allows early return to activity while controlling undesirable movement that may interfere with the healing process. Common types of tapes used in rehabilitation include athletic or kinesiology tape, which possess specific properties designed to support or enhance healing without restricting movement excessively.

What Are The Benefits Of Taping?

There are several purposes for using taping in rehabilitation:

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  • Taping can help support weak muscles by providing additional stability during movement.

  • Taping can be used to support injured or unstable joints by limiting excessive movement which reduces pain.

  • Taping techniques are designed to relieve pain by reducing stress on injured tissues or altering biomechanical alignment.

  • Taping methods such as lymphatic taping can help reduce swelling (edema) through increased fluid drainage.

  • Taping may be used to encourage proper posture or movement patterns during completion of postural correction exercises in rehabilitation.

  • Taping techniques like kinesiology taping can be used to improve muscle function and proprioception (awareness of body position in space).

  • Taping over scars may help improve their appearance and promote tissue healing as part of a scar management program.

What Types Of Conditions Can Benefit From Taping?

Taping can be used for soft tissue injuries affecting the back, shoulder, elbow, thigh, knee, lower legs, feet, ankle, wrists and pain syndromes and anyone from an athlete diagnosed with an overuse injury to an elderly person with a degenerative joint disease.

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Specific use includes:

  • Professions that involve hard physical labor and repetitive movements such as construction workers, postal workers, factory workers, gardeners, or mechanics.

  • Jobs or tasks that involve sitting and working at the desk for prolonged periods such as students or administrative workers.

  • Athletes and physically active individuals involved in personal training or recreational and professional sports.

  • Individuals who present with postural syndromes including upper and lower crossed syndromes.

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Examples of Musculoskeletal Conditions That Are Managed With Taping?

Taping can be done for ankle and foot conditions

Foot & Ankle

  • Plantar Fasciitis
  • ​Medial/Lateral ankle sprain
  • Turf toe
  • Achilles tendon strain
  • Pes planus (flat feet)
Taping can be done for thigh conditions

Thigh & Groin

  • Hamstring strain
  • Quadriceps strain
  • Groin strain
  • Greater trochanter bursitis
  • Iliotibial band syndrome
  • Hip flexor pain
Taping can be done for lower leg conditions

Shin & Calf

  • Medial tibial stress syndrome
  • ​Anterior compartment syndrome
  • Turf toe
  • Achilles tendon strain
Taping can be done for neck conditions

Head & Neck

  • Headaches
  • General neck pain
  • Trigger points (upper trapezius, levator scapulae)
  • Whiplash associated disorder
Taping can be done for knee conditions

Knee

  • Anterior cruciate ligament sprain
  • Medial collateral ligament sprain
  • Posterior cruciate ligament sprain
  • Patellofemoral pain syndrome
  • Osgood Schlatter disease
  • Patella tendinopathy
Taping can be done for back conditions

Back

  • Disc bulge
  • Non-specific low back pain
  • Pregnancy-related back pain
Taping can be done for shoulder conditions

Shoulder

  • Rotator cuff tendinopathy
  • AC joint sprain
  • Scapular dyskinesia
  • Subacromial impingement
Taping can be done for elbow conditions

Elbow

  • Golfers elbow
  • Tennis elbow
  • Biceps strain
  • Triceps strain
Taping can be done for hand conditions

Wrist

  • Wrist pain
  • Carpal tunnel syndrome
Taping can be done for hand conditions

Hand

  • Finger jam
  • Finger sprain
  • Thumb sprain
  • De Quervain Syndrome

What Types Of Taping Do You Use?

Kinesiology Tape

  • Improves self-awareness

  • Changes how your body feels pain

  • Reduces the load on the joint during movement

  • Boosts circulation

  • Can remain on the skin for multiple days 

 

Athletic Tape

  • Stiffer and sticks for longer

  • Acts more as a brace

  • Restricts range of motion

  • Supports the joint

  • Inexpensive

Do I Need To Pay For Taping?

If therapeutic taping is determined by the physiotherapists to be necessary for your treatment program, then this would be included as part of your rehabilitation without a fee. The exception, would be for sports injuries where patients would be required to purchase their own taping materials for continued application by the physiotherapist during physiotherapy visits.

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