Costs
Treatment with Kinesiotapes is not covered by the public health insurance and must be paid for by the patient. The price for taping a single joint can range from 5 to 6 Euros, depending on the doctor, plus other costs such as anamnesis or chiropractic treatments.Thus costs can quite develop around the 10 – 13 euro for a tape. Many private insurance companies refund the costs.
Some patients have gone over to taping themselves. Some experts, however, view this with a critical eye, as they believe that kinesiotaping belongs in the hands of experienced therapists. They argue that the skin needs a certain tension to make the taping work.
However, if you apply the tapes yourself, the twisting during application would put the tissue under the wrong tension. Furthermore, it is part of such a treatment to treat the causes and not only the effects by means of the kinesiotapes. Good anatomical knowledge is also important.
Since Kinesiotape is often intended to remain attached to the skin for longer, it is important that it is protected from external influences such as water, dirt, sweat, etc. Therefore, showering with Kinesiotape is no problem. After showering with Kinesiotape you only have to consider that the affected area should not be dried normally, but dabbed with a towel to prevent the tape from being accidentally removed. Since Kinesiotape does not contain any adhesives, but has self-adhesive properties due to its special acrylic coating, there is no need to fear that the tape will come off by itself when showering.
Effectiveness
However, the effectiveness of kinesiotaping is discussed very controversially. Up to now there is very little study material available that meets scientific requirements. These studies do not show a great effect of Kinesiotaping compared to other tapes.
Apparently a certain effect on muscle activity could be shown, but a benefit in terms of pain reduction could not be proven. Only in one study could a comparison be shown in the speed of pain reduction of movement pain compared to placebo, but no reduction of pain at rest. It is assumed that most of the effects of Kinesiotaping are based on the placebo effect, but this has yet to be proven.
In this respect, sports medicine does not know much about this treatment method. However, it is not necessary to reject it because of this; after all, it is always necessary to go by what the patients report. Many seem to benefit from kinesiotaping and this method has long been established in sports medicine.
