Taping

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

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

Non-stretch tape

The classic white sports tape is still regularly used to tape, for example, a sprained ankle. This tape does not stretch and can be useful to limit a joint's mobility. However, this can also be a disadvantage. Sometimes we want to support a joint without restricting its freedom of movement. Moreover, the skin load from non-stretch tape can be high, because it can pull strongly on the skin. This can cause small wounds.

Elastic tape

For those reasons, tape has been developed that does stretch and can be seen as a kind of second skin. This tape comes in various 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, movement will even be better or with less pain than without tape.

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

The taping technique used depends on the nature and location of the complaint. 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 physical therapy techniques.