There are many sports in which its participants use tape, not just as part of their rehabilitation after injury, but as an injury precaution. There are a number of different types of athletic tapes in the market, all of which carry different features to better serve their user. In 2012, Journal Of Human Sport and Exercise published an article concerning this very topic.
Gymnastics
Gymnasts use their wrists and ankles much more than the average person. This causes frequent injury from overuse. These gymnasts, regardless of their competition or skill level, should consider keeping their wrists and ankles taped whenever their practicing or competing to help lower the risk of injury. Properly applied athletic tape can also minimize the severity of injury when it’s unavoidable. Most commonly used tapes in gymnastics are rigid adhesives like our Protective Plus, and stretch tapes like Thin Flex.
source: google images http://nchsbands.info
Ballet
Didn’t think of this one, did you? Ballet is another sport where using athletic tapes and wraps can be crucial in preventing injury. The human foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, and over 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Gliding across a stage on your tippy toes may make you look like you’re on a cloud, but those toes are not happy. Our toes are not designed to carry our entire body weight, even if we keep that weight to a minimum, like professionally trained ballerinas learn to do. Taping won’t save you from breaking a toe or an ankle due to a misstep or fall. It certainly won't prevent you from tearing a ligament. But when administered by a professional, atletic tape can spare you a much worse injury you’d endure if you were not wearing supportive tapes. The injury would more than likely be far worse. Thin, low-profile rigid adhesive tapes for toes and ankles would be best for fitting under the tight ballet slippers, as well as for optimal comfort and placement.
source: google images http://www.picluck.net
Body Building
Unless you’ve never seen a barbell in person, you know how harsh they can be to hold barehanded. All the ridges etched in for friction will, at best, leave you with some bad calluses. Barbells usually start at about 40lbs, without the plates added. That’s a lot of pressure for the small surface area of your palms and fingers. When weight gloves aren’t an option, or just aren’t enough, adding tape to your weight training preparation will be a smart thing to do. It’s not just about the calluses, which are really minor irritations. It’s about the undue stress you put on your hands and fingers during the training that can lead to painful blisters and torn ligaments. Your hands are done with the abuse before the rest of you is. Bodybuilders typically find more success in using stretch tapes, we suggest Thin Flex or Lite Guard to best fit your needs.
CrossFit
CrossFit is a high-intensity fitness regiment and competitive sport. It involves aspects of weight training, gymnastics, calisthenics, plyometrics (jump training), and strongman. One of the most common injuries these athletes face is hand tears (ouch!), and shoulder injuries. Regardless of your level of physical fitness, you're never too in-shape to fall victim to an unfortunate injury, so you have to take necessary precautions. Tapes best suited to help protect you against injuries would be flexible and light-weight adhesives.
Stavros Kalogirou, CrossFit @stavrosjk
Are you interested in joining Stavros on Team Arrowhead? Let us know! Reach out to us at #teamarrowhead or on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! Or tell us how athletic tape has helped you. We love hearing from fellow athletes!
Keep Pushing, Keep Safe!