May. 12, 2025
John Castro, PT, DPT, OCS, MTC, Clinical Supervisor at HSS Westchester Rehabilitation and Performance, is a certified orthopedic specialist and physical therapist who has been applying the therapeutic tape for nearly three decades. In this Q&A, he sorts through the hype.
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Kinesiology tape is a thin, flexible tape that was developed to aid muscle movement and enhance athletic performance. It is often used to relieve pain, reduce swelling and inflammation and provide support to joints and muscles.
The elasticity, or stretchiness, of kinesiology tape allows for movement. This makes it different from the more rigid rehabilitation tape or support adhesives that have no stretch to them. Those are used to keep muscles and joints from moving and provide support after a sports-related injury, and for people who have conditions that make it difficult to activate muscles or control muscle contraction.
A survey published in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy found that most professionals use kinesiology tape for post-injury treatment, to help lessen pain and to stimulate the muscles into action.
Taping is not new. Support adhesives have been used since the Olympic games in the s. Athletes like weightlifters, volleyball players, divers and rock climbers have also long used them.
Kinesio Tape® was introduced in as a neuromuscular tape intended to help improve muscle contraction. The quality of this tape was supposed to be physiologically similar to the skin. It became a trend in the United States in after an article in The New York Times featured an Olympic beach-volleyball champion wearing the tape on her shoulder. Over time, many different brands introduced similar versions, including KT Tape®, RockTape®, K-Tape® and dozens of others.
One of the main reasons we use kinesiology tape is to help people with muscle stimulation after an injury. The thin, stretchy tape imitates the skin’s elasticity, so it feels very natural. When you apply the tape, the skin sends signals to the nerves to activate the muscles. When the muscles receive that information, they respond to the stimulation and contract. Muscle contractions produce movement, sustain body posture and position and help stabilize joints.
In addition, kinesiology tape is used to relieve pain from inflammation and lymphedema. It’s applied in a way that pulls the skin upward, creating a space under the skin that improves the lymphatic flow in that area. It may also help prevent arthritic inflammation from flaring, but there is little evidence to support that and it is even less beneficial if the condition is chronic or mobility is a problem.
Most of the studies that have been done are not conclusive. Research outcomes may vary depending on the material of tape used. Different brands use different materials, so studies can generate a high degree of inconsistencies.
Another problem is that most blinded studies are designed to randomize people into groups in which every person receives the same taping technique. However, different application techniques are needed for each patient, body part and condition. Knee pain, for instance, could be caused by issues with the tendon, the meniscus, the fat pad, the ligament or a combination of these. For best results, we must tailor the taping technique for the specific problem causing the pain.
There are some studies that have shown good outcomes when the correct taping technique is applied on the right patient. These included patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome, knee osteoarthritis and lymphedema after mastectomy.
Some people will benefit no matter what kind of tape we use or how we use it. Patients should feel more than 30% better when I apply kinesiology tape. That’s when I know it’s helping. If they only feel 5% or 10% better, then it’s probably a placebo effect.
Additionally, some people think the various colors of kinesiology tape have specific properties and benefits, but they do not. Color choice is simply a matter of personal preference.
The biggest misconception, however, involves claims that applying kinesiology tape for knee or shoulder instability can provide support similar to a brace, but that is not necessarily true. In my opinion, the material is too soft, so it doesn’t create enough stability. There is no conclusive research to support its use in this area. People may want to ask their provider about using the more rigid support adhesives for these particular issues instead.
The major downside is skin irritation. The tape may create blisters and skin damage, so it should not be put on open wounds or used on people who have very frail skin, like older patients.
The tape is supposed to be hypoallergenic, but between 5% and 15% of users are allergic to the material. A good way to know if you are allergic is to apply a piece of the tape on the forearm and wait at least one hour for a reaction. If you feel itchy under or around the skin covered by the tape, remove the tape right away and do not use it.
Kinesiology tape can stay in place for several days and up to three weeks. To remove the tape with minimal skin irritation, I recommend patients soak it when bathing, apply some oil on the area, hold the skin and pull the tape off slowly and gently.
People can try applying kinesiology tape themselves, but it won’t be as effective. There are instructional videos online, and some practitioners may be willing to teach you how to apply the tape so you can continue to do it yourself at home. But you will have a better result if an experienced or certified practitioner applies it with good technique. Taping is not one-size-fits-all. It requires a certain clinical background and experience to understand how best to apply the tape for each patient’s anatomy and condition.
I have been a physical therapist for almost 4 decades, and in our practice, we treat many orthopedic and painful conditions. One of my go-to treatment options to help patients improve is through the use of Kinesio tape, which is useful for tendonitis, shoulder pain knee pain, back pain, and neck pain (just to highlight a few).
Many of our patients wonder what Kinesio tape is, and whether or not it works.
Kinesio tape is a thin, elastic therapeutic tape used to treat sports injuries and improve athletic performance. It works by supporting muscles and joints without restricting movement, improving blood flow and reducing pain and inflammation. The tape is designed to mimic the natural properties of human skin, allowing it to be worn comfortably for extended periods of time.
I often use Kinesio tape as a part to our treatment plans. When we use Kinesio tape with patients, the question is often asked, how does Kinesio tape work? In this article I will discuss where Kinesio tape came from, the proposed mechanism of Kinesio tape influencing tissue and give examples of how I use Kinesio tape.
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Though it’s not fully understood at this point, it is theorized that applying the tape to the skin helps in supplementing the lost sensory input (known as “afferent” sensory input) from injured or inflamed tissues to help the brain move more normally. This contributes to a sense of neurological stability in joints, restoring normal function.
In other words, by being attached to the skin, the colorful tape stimulates the skin’s receptors, restoring our sense of spatial awareness (called “proprioception”) around that joint. This stimulation thereby increases the amount of “afferent” information traveling thought the peripheral nerves, into the spinal cord and up to the brain.
In order to visualize how this works, imagine an old pair of socks you have. At some point, they are so stretched out they do not stay on your leg and they slide down on their own. In other words, there is no tension left in the sock.
This is similar to what happens when connective tissue is stretched beyond its elasticity limits. If there’s no tension in the ligaments, then we lose our sense of spatial awareness around that joint. At that point, there are no receptors sending afferent information to the brain with a consequence of poor movement patterns.
Unsurprisingly, this leads to all sorts of negative consequences.
Kinesio tape works by stimulating the tissues below the tape, creating the necessary afferent input to the brain to restore proper range of motion and function of the joint. By increasing the amount of afferent information, it has been suggested that we allow the muscles to work more efficiently.
For example, let’s take the case of a shoulder injury. When stretched, there are tissues that respond, sending afferent information to the brain (Hey, I am on stretch).
These tissues are ligaments and joint capsules. This allows the central nervous system to know where the shoulder is in space and make appropriate adjustment. When you close your eyes and try to touch your nose with your finger, you are relying upon the afferent nerves to have you finger arrive close to your nose and not in your eye.
We first need to define what “effective” means. The two main areas where Kinesio tape gets used is in the realm of injury rehab, as well as the realm of sports performance. We’ll discuss each here:
One meta analysis examined studies on Kinesio tape’s effectiveness for lower extremity injury, spinal injuries, and shoulder injuries.
What most studies found was that patients who received Kinesio tape treatment experienced significant pain relief in the short term. The caveat, however, was that only the patients who participated in exercise programs got better over the long term.
This echoes what we’ve found in my many years of being a practicing physical therapist. We’re believers in Kinesio tape for helping people overcome injuries and get better – but the biggest difference maker is participation in their in-office and home exercise programs.
There have been several studies performed to establish if Kinesio tape “works” to improve sports performance.
Sports performance in these studies usually refers to improvements in the following characteristics: strength, speed, facilitate recovery rate, increased ROM and flexibility. Many of these studies were performed on healthy individuals.
In summary Kinesio tape has not been demonstrated to improve performance in these categories for healthy athletes. Additionally, Kinesio tape was not found to be particularly in preventing sports related injuries.
Areas that we at Petersen find Kinesio tape to be most helpful:
There are at least a few brand names of the type of tape broadly referred to as Kinesio tape. Kinesio tape is a trademarked name for this type of tape. It was originally developed by a Japanese Chiropractor in .
As part of a marketing plan, Rolls of Kinesio tape were donated to 58 Olympic Teams in in Beijing China. Kinesio tape differs from the typical cloth athletic tape usually used to relieve pain in the knees, shoulders, ankles and other areas related to athletic injuries.
It is composed of cotton, having an elasticity allowing it to stretch approximately 60% of its’ original length. Kinesio tape contains a hypoallergenic glue with a very specific weave. Unlike the longitudinal fibers of athletic tape, Kinesio tape has a wave pattern weave.
I have found this type of tape under the names, KT tape and Rock Tape. In this article I will refer to all of these types Kinesio tape. (Much like facial tissue has come to be known as “Kleenex”)
The duration for which Kinesio tape should be left on depends on the purpose of the tape application and the individual’s tolerance to the tape. Generally, Kinesio tape can be worn for up to five days, but some people may need to remove it sooner due to skin irritation or discomfort. It is important to follow the instructions of your physical therapist (or other healthcare professional) when applying and removing Kinesio tape.
I have seen a few treatment techniques come and go. Some fads have passed on and some have stayed. Over the years, I have developed the opinion that Kinesio tape as part of a therapy plan to treat shoulder pain, knee pain and back pain is not a fad. Kinesio tape is an effective adjunct to treatment of many ailments such as tendonitis, shoulder pain, knee pain, low back pain and other issues.
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