Athletic Tape Info Center

This is the third installment in my tennis elbow series. Part 1 provided an overview of tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis. Part 2 provided kinesiology taping instructions for acute tennis elbow during a break from activity, with the goal of relieving inflammation and helping the overused wrist extensor muscles relax and recover.

Many people with tennis elbow, however, can’t or don’t want to take time away from the activity that is responsible for the pain and inflammation. Many athletes prefer to “play through” overuse injuries like tendonitis of the elbow, while manual laborers with lateral epicondylitis may need to continue working to earn a living. In these cases, a different kinesiology taping technique can be used to reduce pain and provide structural support for the muscles of the forearm.This technique is also applicable to individuals returning to activity after taking time off due to tennis elbow pain.

Taping from the origin (elbow end) to the insertion (wrist end) of the forearm extensors will facilitate activation of these muscles, overiding the body’s natural decrease in muscle tone and muscle activation that occur in response to pain. The following step-by-step instructions are for using pre-cut kinesiology tape for tennis elbow. The brand name of this product is SpiderTech, and the elbow application is one of 15 different precut kinesiology tape applications for different parts of the body. The following images show the shape of the pre-cut SpiderTech Elbow application, followed by a diagram of the reverse side showing the application sequence.

My next posting, “Kinesiology Taping for Chronic Tennis Elbow – Part B” will provide step-by-step application instructions for the SpiderTech Pre-Cut Elbow Tape.