Sticking With It

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• Research Corner

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Research Corner

Like with many “performance enchancements”, the answer is, sometimes yes… sometimes no. Let’s look at a few different types of tape strategies and what current research says:

1. Kinesio Taping (KT)

   Overview: Developed in the 1970s, Kinesio tape is a stretchy, low-profile therapeutic tape applied to the skin to gently support muscles and joints without restricting movement. It is commonly used on shoulders, kneecaps, or ankles but can go just about anywhere. A 2023 Meta-Analysis found short term pain relief and modest improvement in fuction for many different body parts for the first 4 to 6 weeks of application.

   tl;dr: it has some benefit at least in the short term and is very safe, but we’re not entirely sure if it’s placebo effect, muscle activation changes, or something else.

2. Ankle Taping

   For sports that involve running, jumping and pivoting, prophylactic ankle taping with traditional atheltic tape has long been used in an attempt to reduce the risk of sprains by restricting range of motion. The snag? Even the best traditional tape job will loosen significantly by the time the athlete is done playing, making any effectiveness very short lived. Additionally, some data suggests traditional taping for healthy ankles is detrimental, by affecting natural jumping and landing mechanics. For this reason, taping ankles for most college and professional sports teams is gradually falling by the wayside, and seen as more of a placebo treatment than a genuinely useful injury prevention strategy.

   tl;dr: traditional taping can be fiddly but perhaps an alternative to a brace for the unstable anke; it is unnessary and may have unintended consequences for the healthy ankle.

3. Patellar Taping

   For fencers with patellofemoral pain or mild kneecap tracking issues, taping the kneecap can help decrease pain and improve quad muscle activation, especially in the early stages of rehab. Critically, taping should not be seen as the definitive treatment strategy, but as an adjunct to physiotherapy and other treatment strategies. In other words, you can’t rely on the tape forever.

HEMA Hot Take:

Taping can feel a bit gimmicky when you see it used haphazardly—but it’s not total nonsense when applied correctly and for the correct applications. For HEMA folks especially, it’s important to recognize when it’s worth it and when it’s just a colorful distraction:

• Struggling with mild knee pain or some achilles discomfort before a longsword event? Taping your kneecap or ankle might help you get through it without over-relying on a heavy brace that can hamper performance.

• Just rolled your ankle last week? Taping can be a smart intermediate step as you ease back into footwork, particularly if a traditional brace won’t fit in your fencing shoe.

• You’ve been taping your ankle for years before tournaments since your high school hockey coach told you to? Questionable at best.

• Trying to fix an actual injury or chronic condition with tape alone? That’s where we tap out.

Coach’s Corner

Taping is one of those things I see fencers reach for when they’re trying to “hold things together” going into a tournament—and I get it. It’s easy, it’s cheap, and it feels proactive.

But here’s the deal: tape is not a substitute for modulating training volume correctly, or doing rehab or strength work.

That said, in my own orthopedic practice and in working with athletes, I’ve found taping most useful when:

• It gives just enough support without losing mobility (like KT for shoulder stability or patellar taping for minor tracking issues).

• A brace isn’t practical to wear, but you want something between you and full chaos.

• You just need to get through a short stretch (tournament weekend, performance, etc.) and don’t want to aggravate something minor.

For those situations, it can be a smart part of the toolkit—as long as it’s part of a larger recovery and conditioning plan, not the whole plan itself.

In an ideal world at a major event you’d have an athletic trainer in your pocket you pull out to tape athletes who need it (try taping your ankle by yourself and you’ll immediately see why). Unless you’re extremely lucky and happen to have a physio or ATC on your club roster, however, athletes are on their own to diagnose and manage their injuries.

My personal strategy as a coach? If one of my athletes is applying tape to their body, I check in with them (in a nonconfrontational, helpful way) and just double check that they’re fit to fight. I want to be sure I know what’s going on with any injuries before they step into the ring - not find out when I see them go down mid-bout.

Health & Fitness Tips

Putting together your own prep kit for tournaments? Here are a few things I keep stocked in mine:

✔️ KT Tape (knockoff brands also work just fine)
✔️ Coban (self-adherent wrap)
✔️ Tylenol and Advil
✔️ ACE Bandag
✔️ Band-Aids and Neosporin (saves time trying to find the med person just for a band aid)
✔️ Scissors
✔️ Hair Ties and Electrical Tape (for weapons and glove repairs)

Any injuries that need more than that should be hitting the medical area - but I find these simple items get me and my friends through the vast majority of issues at tournaments.

Conditioning Move of the Week

Agility Ladder Advance & Retreat

This month we're looking at some advanced conditioning drills for upper B and A tier HEMA fencers. Agility ladders are a cheap but fun tool that adds some variety to your plyometrics work. This drill is all about precise, small footwork at speed. The controlled lateral movement is also great for fencers who need to break the habit of just moving forwards and backwards, or circling without using lateral footwork effectively.

Upcoming Events