No Support for Ankle Taping
Ross Hauser, M.D.

Whether you are watching wrestling, gymnastics, karate, or soccer, you see athletes with their ankles all taped up. Some are hoping to prevent injury from starting, others are hoping that their current injuries do not worsen. Both are dreaming if they think the ankle taping is going to help them.

What is the purpose of taping? Its purpose is to support the ankle and limit its motion. Guess what happens when you limit motion of the ankle? It weakens the ligaments and tendons, it also causes decreased muscle contractions that could actually be predisposing the ankle to injury. In other words, taping will actually increase the chances of injury. The other consequence of restricting ankle motion in the athlete is decreased performance. You'll play worse with a taped ankle! Athletic events that depend on plantar flexion (jumping) are the most affected by taping.

The main reasons for taping an ankle or knee given by traditional sports medicine are to prevent injury or a worsening of the injury. Common sense would dictate that it is unlikely that the tape would ever function at the same capacity as the actual knee ligaments themselves. The athlete hopes that the tape will, in essence, replace the injured ligament and support the ankle. This is good in theory, but an even better theory is to strengthen the ligament that was injured so that it is at least as strong as pre-injury or even better. This is why athletes are turning to Prolotherapy.

What Happens When You Tape an Injury?
What happens after you tape an ankle? It feels tight. Great, but does the tightness last? Think about these facts. During a long athletic event an athlete might experience 25,000 impacts to the ground equivalent, on average, of 2.5 times the athlete's body weight. Landing after a rebound, a basketball player experiences a force which can exceed five times the body weight under each leg. The question for an athlete who weighs 180 pounds is, "Can the tape on the ankle handle a force of 450 pounds (180 x 2.5) during 2,500 impacts (a shorter sporting event)?" The answer would logically be no it is just a piece of cloth wrapped around the ankle. The athletic trainer may put some sticky stuff under the wrap or have some fancy way of weaving it around the ankle-under the arch, between the toes, whatever-but in actuality, it is a piece of cloth that must withstand a 450 pound force, 2,500 times in the span of a couple of hours during a game.

Classic Study at the University of Wisconsin
In the classic study on this subject done in 1962, Dr. G. Rarick and associates at the University of Wisconsin studied the four most common ankle taping methods, namely: the basket weave, the basket weave and stirrup, the basket weave and heel lock, and the basket weave with combination stirrup and heel lock. The athletes then exercised for 10 minutes designed to put the ankles under stress. The program consisted of running, jumping, pivoting, quick starts, and quick stops. The study showed that all of the different methods caved in within the 10 minutes of exercise. The authors noted, "The results clearly demonstrated that as much as 40 percent of the net supporting strength of the strapping was lost after 10 minutes of vigorous exercise. Inspection of the strapping following testing disclosed that almost invariably the supporting strips of tape were either broken or the anchoring lateral strips were displaced downward. While some support is given to the ankle joint by current methods of taping, it is doubtful that the protection is as great as many believe. Most certainly the stress of exercise quickly loosens the adhesive supports, leaving the ankle joint with only limited protection. The effectiveness of taping was poor after 10 minutes and minimal after 60 minutes."

Before someone says "that study was done in 1962," the basket weave taping method in this study is still the fundamental approach of ankle taping used today.

Taping Increases Injury Risk
So does taping prevent injuries? Of course not. No matter the sport, whether it is basketball or football, taping does not prevent injuries. In one study, in over six sessions of collegiate football, most ankle injuries occurred when the athletes' ankles were taped. Of note was that of the 24 re-injuries to the ankle, 23 of them were in taped ankles.

In a similar study looking at athletic injuries and taping, it was shown that players with histories of ankle sprains were twice as likely to sustain further sprains of their uninjured ankles regardless of shoes or external supports (taping).

Should these results surprise us? No. Taping does not repair the injured ankle. Nothing can take the place of God-given ligaments to support the ankle or any other joint. Any athlete with an ankle sprain should fix it with Prolotherapy. Prolotherapy can stimulate the athlete's body to repair the damaged ligament. The ankle will then feel strong because it will be strong. Ankle taping gives the athlete a false sense of security that the tape is supporting the ankle. Studies have shown that within 10 minutes of exercise, the taping is supporting the ankle with 50 percent less strength. For athletes with ankle sprains, taping is a sure way to get re-injured.