Kinesiology tape improves athletic performance

Kinesiology tape improves athletic performance
	UNSUPPORTED
	"Elastic kinesiology tape, applied in colorful patterns to the skin, improves muscle strength, athletic performance and recovery, and prevents injuries."
Domain	Sports & Competition
Tactic	Pseudoscience / Junk Science;
Era	Current
First seen	1970s
Origin	Developed by Japanese chiropractor Kenzo Kase in the 1970s and popularized worldwide after athletes wore it at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Last reviewed	2026-10-27
	Further reading: books on Sports & Competition

The claim that kinesiology tape improves athletic performance became widespread after beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings and other athletes wore brightly colored strips of tape at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Manufacturers say the tape lifts the skin to improve circulation and lymphatic drainage, supports muscles and joints, and improves performance and recovery. Systematic reviews have found little high-quality evidence that kinesiology tape improves strength or performance or prevents injuries, and benefits for pain are small and often no greater than placebo.

The claim

Kinesiology tape is stretchy cotton tape with an acrylic adhesive. It is applied in different patterns, and marketing materials make claims about activating or inhibiting muscles, improving proprioception, reducing swelling and supporting joints without restricting movement.

What the evidence shows

Sports injuries. A 2012 meta-analysis by Sean Williams and colleagues in Sports Medicine found little quality evidence to support the use of kinesiology tape over other types of elastic taping for sports injuries, and noted that small effects on some outcomes were of uncertain significance.
Muscle strength. A 2015 meta-analysis by Robert Csapo and Luis Alegre in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport found that kinesiology tape had no significant effect on muscle strength in healthy adults.
Pain. Reviews of kinesiology tape for musculoskeletal conditions, such as low back pain, have found that it was not more effective than sham taping or other treatments in a clinically meaningful way.
Mechanism. The proposed mechanisms, such as lifting the skin to improve lymphatic flow, have not been demonstrated to produce the claimed effects on performance.
Placebo and comfort. Some athletes report feeling more supported or confident with the tape, which may have psychological value, and the tape is generally safe.

Why it persists

Visible use by elite athletes serves as powerful marketing. The tape is inexpensive, low-risk and feels supportive, and its colorful patterns suggest a technical, scientific approach. Athletes often use it alongside other treatments, making it hard to know what helped.

Lessons for readers

Use by famous athletes is not evidence of effectiveness.
Compare treatments with sham or placebo controls.
Plausible-sounding mechanisms need to be tested.
Feeling supported is not the same as measurable performance improvement.
Low-risk products can still be oversold.

Sources

Sean Williams, Chris Whatman, Patria A. Hume and Kelly Sheerin, "Kinesio taping in treatment and prevention of sports injuries: a meta-analysis of the evidence for its effectiveness," Sports Medicine 42, no. 2 (2012).
Robert Csapo and Luis M. Alegre, "Effects of Kinesio taping on skeletal muscle strength—A meta-analysis of current evidence," Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 18, no. 4 (2015).
Shaun Parreira et al., "Kinesio Taping to generate skin convolutions is not better than sham taping for people with chronic non-specific low back pain: a randomised trial," Journal of Physiotherapy 60, no. 2 (2014).