Orthopedic Tape vs Elastic Knee/Ankle supports

[Ellie]

Could anyone enlighten me to the advantages of orthopedic tape for knee or ankle injuries compared to the old school elastic supports ? DC has a bit of a niggly knee (it flares up once in a while but is looked after by a physio and osteo) Last week the osteo put orthopedic tape on it. Is it the same as using an elastic support ?

[Yorkshire Pud]

The orthopaedic tape will hold the knee in the position it is meant to be in until muscle can be built up to do the job of the tape. Make sure you put the tape on exactly how the Physio shows you. if the kneecap is sitting to the left for example the Physio will tape it to pull it to the right and so on..... The Physio should tell you why the tape is being used

[Yorkshire Pud]

Or the Osteo in your case!!

[Anna C]

Spot on, Yorkshire Pud. The "rigid" tape helps to stabilise a joint and almost hold it in the right place. Elastic supports are really used for compression, for instance in the case of a sprained ankle, it is thought that elastic bandages reduce swelling. Elastic supports can also supply warmth to the affected joint.

 

Then you have coloured kinesiology tape which - if I remember rightly - is designed to literally lift the fascia away from the underlying tissue in cases of inflammation, where for example a tendon may be "catching".

 

It sounds as if the Osteo has used the rigid support tape, as Yorkshire Pud says, to hold the knee in the right place. But I would always advise asking him/her if you are unsure.

[Ellie]

Thank you

[Katymac]

Is this tape what DD will have had when she torn her aductor?  If it is I need to find a hypoallergenic form of it for her as her skin reacted badly to it

[Anna C]

Was it beige tape, and quite rigid? Not much, if any, stretch to it, Katymac? If so, there is hypoallergenic white "undertape" that can be put on underneath. My dd is allergic to the beige tape but not the white. The beige zinc oxide tape is called Leukotape, and the white hypoallergenic undertape is Hypafix (sometimes called Fixomull).

 

Dd's also become allergic to the kinesio tape my physio uses, so we need to investigate a different make.

[Katymac]

Thanks - I'll ask her (or the physio)

 

Sorry for hijacking Ellie

[Ellie]

Hijack away

[taxi4ballet]

I'm allergic to stretchy surgical tape & plasters etc, someone told me it might be the latex in it that was causing the reaction, but so far microporous tape seems to be ok.

 

edited for rotten spelling

Edited June 21, 2015 by taxi4ballet

[drdance]

K tape can be quite irritating to the skin but there are loads of different brands so it's worth trying out a few- if this is what you're using, be careful to make sure that the ends don't have any stretch, and that there's no creases or wrinkles anywhere as they can cause rubbing and blisters.

 

If it's the beige, non-stretchy stuff that irritates, then the white 'undertape' mentioned above is designed to be used with it. In fact it's often sold in packs with one roll of white and one roll of beige (although I think the white stuff reduces the efficacy of it slightly - I used to use it on my own knees without!) 

 

With taping, any wrinkles or creases can cause skin irritation so always ensure that it's totally smooth, and always trim the ends of the tape so that the corners are rounded. That helps stop the corners lifting and getting stuck to clothing etc.