Kinesiology Tape, commonly known as KT Tape, has stretched to Leopard athletes.  Athletic trainers are now turning to the taping method to help players with their injuries. KT Tape is a lightweight elastic sports tape used for all kinds of injuries to help support and relief pain. The tape is stretched along an athlete’s muscles, ligaments, and tendons to give external support that allows one to remain active while recovering.

“KT is short for Kinesio Tape, basically we use it for two things, one is for pain and swelling and the other is Proprioception,” Athletic Trainer Susan Smiley said. “We use it on newer injuries, it works really well on back injuries, pulls, and ankle sprains.”

The school recently started using this method of taping after talking with team chiropractors and attending numerous clinics.

“Research said it was working, so we kind of did trial and error and it worked,” Smiley said. “We did a few last year and it was working so we ordered it this year. It’s just something else in the toolbox to use.”

Freshman soccer player Madeline Sessions used KT tape on her foot while recovering from a grade 2+ ankle sprain.

“I sprained my ankle and I used it to help the swelling, after she changed the tape job to support the muscle and ligament,” Sessions said. ““It takes away the pain and helps when I run and walk.”

With the lightweight material, KT Tape is waterproof and can be used in many different scenarios.

“It’s helped me by putting pressure on my injury. And I’ve been able to rely on it when I was injured to keep me from re-injuring it,” junior Chris Prudhomme said. “I think it prevents another injury because it basically holds the muscle/ligament together so it can’t pull and rip.”

KT tape doesn’t work for everyone as the tape can stretch and can be less effective the longer you wear it.

“It didn’t really work for a long time though, it helped a lot for the first few hours and then it wasn’t tight so I would get I re-taped the next day,” soccer player Cassie Conarty said. “It wouldn’t help instead of the tape but it does help more than just getting taped.”

It may never replace that familiar white athletics tape, but it’s an effective aid.

“It won’t replace a tape job,” Smiley said. “But in combination, it helps more.”