Has anyone tried this? What were the outcomes? Did it lessen the pain of a subluxation/dislocation/sprain etc, all the fun stuff that comes with EDS. I borrowed a book from a fellow EDSer in my area about the taping. It seems really neat and possibly worth a try, I'm just curious if anyone has tried it yet.

Hi Testy,

I don't have EDS but I just took a course at uni to do with taping for injuries such as sprains, subluxations and dislocations. I am studying my undergrad in Kinesiology. I just thought I would share my experience with taping, let you know some key tips about what I learned about taping although I'm not familiar enough with EDS to know if it will help you or not.
I have JIA so this taping class was difficult because of my hand involvement. If you have hand involvement in your EDS it might be hard to rip the tap as you use both of your index fingers to rip it.. or you can use scissors but this is harder as the tape sticks to them. It also is fairly hard to keep the whole tape job tight, because you have to pull with your hands. I would recommend trying the tape job on someone else to learn it then try it on yourself because its harder when its attached to you.

- You put anchors on first (the first pieces of tape that your other tape sticks on)
- Depending on what joint you are doing you put stirups and close down, which means that you cover the skin and help stabilize the joint
- For an ankle or hand you would then do heel locks, or figures of 8. This is the part that actually really keeps the joint stable but is the hardest. You need to make sure that your tape job doesnt have wrinkles because this can cut your skin and give blisters.
- The one thing that makes a difference is the angle of tape, if its wrinkly then just try to find the right angle to go around the joint.
- also there are different types of tape for different tape jobs. The regular Johnson tape is the best for most things, but elastic tape is much more comfortable and nessecary when you are going around a muscle belly, and use prowrap which is the meshy material that sticks to itself to lessen the irritation on the skin or to prevent hair from being pulled out

I know that for me, when I had tape jobs done if the joint was stable it took some of the pain away, but if the tape was too tight or wrinkly than this just created more pain as it would be irritating or create swelling in my sensitive joints.

Hope this helps!

Kadi

I have tried this a few times, however I am allergic to tape and when I tried ti I ended up with blisters covering my leg and didn't notice any change.

My success with the taping varies along with the different types of tape. There is kinesio tape... then there is the leukotape which seemed to be what kd_darkangel was referring to.

If you have fragile skin, proceed with caution, had the top layer of my skin ripped off cause I was dumb and just pulled the stuff off once. Ow.

This is what I've "heard" (i think it was from my PT but i honestly cant remember). The tape itself holds your joint in place for about the first 15-20 minutes during physical activity. After that, the tension it provides reminds your body to keep the joint stabilized and is an external reminder of "oop... joint wants to go this way... don't let it... oop... joint wants to roll, muscle needs to contract to make it go back to neutral..." etc. I could be completely off base, but... this is what I remember being told and honestly... it makes sense.

Hey Testy,

I was referring to the plain athletic tape like this:
http://www.ithacasports.com/1atspta.html
the leukotape is the really thick brown tape,

but I did some research and I found this definition
"Kinesio Taping is fundamentally different than traditional sports taping. Traditional sports taping is applied with multiple layers of tape that stabilize and support, but this procedure does not allow the muscles and joints to move freely." from the Canadian certification website.

I would think this type of taping would do exactly what KitKat said, give you a reminder about the specific muscles to stablize but doesn't constrict. Very interesting! good luck with your attempts, and hope you find some relief

I don't have EDS either, but I've done taping on patients in physical therapy and it's very helpful for unstable joints or disrupted muscular patterns. It can be great to retrain your muscles to work properly and maintain joint alignment in general.

I do have to agree that the tape can be VERY difficult for some people. I have tape allergies to anything but the plain old paper tape, and sometimes even that tears my skin off.

So definitely proceed with caution!

My physiatrist wanted this, but I don't think she knows my body very well.

My PT wanted to hold off... she thought that it would be too much pressure on the joints to do this, too much force on something. Ultimately I got cut off from PT and am trying to get permission/coverage to get back in (it was a doctor, not my insurance, who cut me off, because I "wasn't getting better")...

The other problem with taping is that for most EDSers, a lot of the things that need taping will need daily attention from another person (to help you). So that was a big "no" for me, unfortunately. But I am thinking your guy might be able to step in here...

And definitely watch for skin involvement. I keep saying "I have no skin involvement" and now I'm having more and more fragility problems, so... yeah. I know you're careful, just keep it up.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/1 ... ic-moment/

Is that type of thing what you are talking about?

I'm allergic to tape/adhesives.

Yes Jilly, that's the type of think i've been ralkinf about. I'm just look for answers... I'm going to make a most in the venting section.... im so irritated about everying.

I've had a type of taping on my shoulders (don't know what it was called) where you tape one strip to pull the muscle into the right spot. It really helped, and i just took it off really slowly

yah.... never try to take tape off until you've taken a shower with it on at *least* then let lotion sit on it and soak in for a good long while... and even then.. .very slowly and carefully with plenty more lotion to put on the underside as you take it off lol