Ronak Panchal
Perhaps Paraguayan javelin thrower Leryn Franco had a sore shoulder?
Nothing says “beach volleyball” like a bunch of colorful tape streaked across your body.
Wait, what?
As the 2016 Summer Olympics get started, there’s lots to look forward to, including incredible feats of athleticism and stories about how well the city of Rio is or isn’t dealing with the influx of athletes and fans.
But if 2008 or 2012 offer any guide, we’ll also see athletes’ bodies covered in stripes of colorful tape — specifically, something called kinesiology tape or more commonly kinesio tape.
But what is it? And why is it there?
Maybe Germany’s Katrin Holtwick got a range of motion increase from this. Maybe.
Several versions of this bright adhesive exist. In 2008 and 2012, athletes often wore Kinesio Tex Tape, created by a Japanese chiropractor in 1979. Today, KT Tape is the official kinesiology tape licensee for Team USA.
Kinesio’s website says their tape “alleviates discomfort and facilitates lymphatic drainage by microscopically lifting the skin.” They say that it can be “applied over muscles to reduce pain and inflammation. Also to relax overused or tired muscles, and support muscles in movement on a 24-hour-a-day basis.”
According to KT Tape’s site, their tape is applied ” to provide a lightweight, external support that helps you remain active while recovering from injuries. KT Tape creates neuromuscular feedback (called proprioception) that inhibits (relaxes) or facilitates stronger firing of muscles and tendons.”
Both sites also give long lists of conditions the tape may help, ranging from headaches to sore muscles to shin splints. Though there’s limited research to back up those long lists.
Does it Work?
Plenty of athletes might occasionally rely on athletic tape for support or to limit certain movement, but is there something special about this kinesio taping?
It’s kind of hard to say. Most research hasn’t found significant benefits to using the tape.
Several reviews of studies that analyzed the clinical use of kinesio taping for people with musculoskeletal conditions found no evidence it helped patients. So for people with chronic conditions that need treatment(not usually Olympic athletes), the tape probably doesn’t do much.
Yet one recent review in the British Journal of Sports Medicine did find that “Kinesio taping is superior to minimal intervention for pain relief.” Other studies have found that the taping may potentially increase. From range of motion slightly, but there’s not necessarily evidence that one type of tape is better than another.
Kinesio Tex Tape may offer slight relief in pain or range of motion, but the effect is minimal. As for Latvia’s Edzus Treimanis and his face tape on the BMX bike — if it feels good, ride on, buddy.
Still, many athletes swear by it. Beyond Olympians, stars like Lance Armstrong and David Beckham also used the tape during their careers.
Surprisingly, that choice may be more logical than it seems, even if there’s no actual physical benefit to taping.
If the tape offers even slight pain relief or better range of motion, it matters to Olympic athletes. A tiny boost—just 0.05%—can mean the difference between winning a medal or missing the podium.
Even without a real performance boost, the tape might still help if the athlete believes in it. The placebo effect is powerful—studies show people feel less pain or fatigue when they think they’ve taken something like caffeine or morphine, even if it’s just a sugar pill.
Human physiology professor Steve Harridge told Reuters in 2012, “If athletes think it helps, that belief alone can give them a psychological boost.”
A mental boost and added confidence might be all an athlete needs to throw the javelin farther or land one final winning volleyball spike.
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