Kinesiology Tape in

High School & Collegiate Swimming

Research Team
Meg Greene, ATS
Hannah Clementson, Dr. Kilbourne, Dr. Muncy

04/24/2017
 Table of Contents
CLINICAL SCENARIO ...........................................................................................................................2
FOCUSED CLINICAL QUESTION: ........................................................................................................................ 2
KEYWORDS: ................................................................................................................................................. 2
SUMMARY OF SEARCH METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................2
SEARCH STRATEGY:........................................................................................................................................ 3
SOURCES OF EVIDENCE SEARCHED: .................................................................................................................. 3
BEST EVIDENCE REVIEWED:............................................................................................................................. 3
CLINICAL BOTTOM LINE ......................................................................................................................3
IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE.............................................................................................................. 3
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH .................................................................................................... 3
REFERENCES: .....................................................................................................................................4

1
CLINICAL SCENARIO
During my semester off in New Bern, NC, I was able to gain certification as a stroke and
turn judge for the local high school swim team. At the first meet, a member of the New Bern
High School team had on kinesiology tape. Another referee asked me if the swimmer had
medical documentation for the tape on her leg. I was confused. I had never heard anything nor
read anything while taking my certification about tape not being allowed. I thought a lot about
how tape could create an unfair advantage, the tape is more of a mental advantage than a
competitive advantage. W hen I was in high school, which was only three years ago, there was
no rule, which I knew about, where tape was not allowed while swimming.

Development of Clinical Question:

When returning to school, I had asked Beth and others why they thought tape was not
allowed without medical clearance. I also asked my committee, collegiate swimmers, and the
team chiropractor, and I received mixed responses related to whether tape created an unfair
advantage. I decided to do more research.

Focused Clinical Question:

Does kinesiology tape improve performance in high school and colligate swimmers?
Why does kinesiology tape need a doctors note, if swimming with tape on?

Keywords:
KT tape
kinesiology tape
Swimming
Health- Care Professional Authorized
Performance

SUMMARY OF SEARCH METHODOLOGY

My first few searches did not provide much on the topic, so I had to widen my search.
When talking to my committee, mainly Dr. Muncy who is KT tape certified, I found a lot of
information that was similar to what he told me. The tape can create an unfair advantage. If
anything it could possibly just create drag for the swimmer if the tape were to start to peal off.
The USA swimming rule, tape on the body; the rule states that it creates an advantage for
the swimmer who has the tape applied, if a swimmer was required to tape all of his fingers
together for a good and valid medical reason. If a swimmer were to tape all his or her fingers
together it acts as a paddle, making it very unfair. However if an athlete has the knee taped, it
would not create an advantage because it just make the athletes mind think they have an
advantage.

I also talked to a colligate swimmer at school and she believes that wearing kinesiology
tape does not create an advantage because its used more to mentally trick the brain. She has
worn kinesiology tape on multiple occasions while swimming and didnt feel as though she had
any advantages against other swimmers.

2
 From the NCHSAA swimming rulebook, Tape is allowed to treat a documented medical
condition provided an appropriate health-care professional has authorized. This is one
statement made in the whole rulebook. Additionally, from the article Effect of KinesioTaping
on Velocity in Swimmers, the end result was no velocity change was documented after the
tape was applied.

Search Strategy:
P: Population- high school and colligate swimmers
I: Intervention- the use of kinesiology tape
O: Outcome- creates an unfair advantage, when used to tape fingers/ toes/ feet together to
create a paddle

Sources of Evidence Searched:

EBSCOhost
Google Scholar

Best Evidence Reviewed:

The article, The Effect of KinesioTaping on Velocity in Swimmers, ended was the best
results to answer my question; the kinesiology tape does not improve the velocity in sprinting
nor long distance.
The rulebooks, listed below, describe how broad the taping rule is in swimming. The
rule itself does not have much information about how it can be managed other than having a
doctors note.

CLINICAL BOTTOM LINE

There is little evidence to support the rule of the taping on the body in the rulebook for
USA swimming and the NCHSAA. However, as tests have shown, taping on the body over
muscles doesnt create an increase in velocity.

Implications for Clinical Practice

Although taping cannot be used in a competition setting without a medical
professionals note, it can be applied during practices and dry land. However, using the tape
during practice could mentally hurt the athlete because they would not be able to have it
during races.

Recommendations for Future Research

Is this rule fair? The board rule of taping is too large for kinesiology taping and taping to
paddle to be under the same branch.

3
REFERENCES:
Tape on the Body, SC-Swimming.org.http://www.sc-
swimming.org/szscslsc/UserFiles/File/Tape%20on%20the%20body%20-
%20USA%20Swimming%20Rule.pdf. Published 2013.

Gardner RB. Swimming Officials' Guidelines Manual, National Federation of State High School
Associations. https://www.nfhs.org/media/1015626/2015-16-swimming-officials-
manual_final.pdf. Published 2015.

Lee J-hoon, Yoo W-gyu. Application of posterior pelvic tilt taping for the treatment of chronic
low back pain with sacroiliac joint dysfunction and increased sacral horizontal angle .
January 2011. http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b6d36163-
42a7-4af2-861d-294aad68fbff%40sessionmgr4010&vid=3&hid=4211.

Baskoy F, Yuce D, Baltaci G. The Effect of KinesioTaping on Velocity in Swimmers, 2016.

http://www.kinesiotaping.no/forskning/frontpage/baskoy_etal.pdf.