Biomechanical Taping: Dynamic Tape® and Strapit Active Tape Explained
A Practical Guide to Load Modification and Movement Assistance for Healthcare Professionals
Biomechanical taping has introduced a different way of thinking about clinical taping.
Rather than primarily trying to restrict joint movement, as with rigid sports tape, or using an elastic tape principally for sensory input and pain modulation, biomechanical taping focuses on mechanical load and movement.
Two examples familiar to many clinicians are Dynamic Tape® and Strapit Active Tape.
Both can be used within a biomechanical taping approach, where the aim is to use the elastic properties of the tape to help modify load, assist movement and influence the mechanical demands placed upon the body during activity.
For physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, sports therapists and other MSK professionals, this creates some fascinating possibilities within rehabilitation.
But simply buying a roll of biomechanical tape doesn’t mean we understand how to use it.
The important questions remain:
What movement are we trying to influence?
What load are we trying to modify?
And how will we know whether our application has actually helped?
These are central principles of the CPD Today Clinical Strapping & Taping Course.
What Is Biomechanical Taping?
Biomechanical taping is an approach that uses highly elastic tape to interact mechanically with movement.
The objective may include:
- Assisting a movement
- Modifying mechanical load
- Reducing demand on a painful or overloaded structure
- Redistributing forces
- Supporting functional activity
- Improving tolerance of rehabilitation
- Helping patients remain active
This is fundamentally different from simply placing elastic tape over the area that hurts.
A biomechanical application should have a clearly defined mechanical objective.
Dynamic Tape® and Strapit Active Tape
Dynamic Tape® and Strapit Active Tape are examples of tapes that can be used for biomechanical taping.
Although individual products can differ in their construction and physical characteristics, both sit within the same broad clinical philosophy.
The clinician uses the elastic properties of the tape to create an external mechanical influence.
Therefore, we don’t regard Dynamic Tape® and Strapit Active Tape as two completely separate forms of taping.
They are examples of biomechanical tapes.
The important skill for the practitioner is understanding the principles that determine how a biomechanical tape should be applied.
How Does Biomechanical Tape Work?
Imagine stretching an elastic band.
As you stretch it, energy is stored within the material.
When released, the elastic band recoils.
Biomechanical tape uses a broadly similar principle.
When the tape is stretched by movement, its elastic properties generate resistance. As movement continues or reverses, the tape can provide an elastic recoil.
This means a correctly designed application may provide a degree of external assistance to movement.
A useful analogy is an external spring.
The clinician attempts to position the tape so its elastic properties interact with the movement or load they are trying to influence.
Load Modification Rather Than Immobilisation
One of the most important distinctions between biomechanical and rigid sports taping is that biomechanical tape generally isn’t being applied to immobilise a joint.
Instead, the objective is often to allow movement while changing some of the mechanical demands associated with that movement.
Consider an athlete with a load-sensitive Achilles tendon.
The long-term goal isn’t to permanently protect the tendon from load.
Tendons need progressive loading to increase their capacity.
However, the athlete may temporarily struggle with the forces generated during walking, running or sport.
A biomechanical taping strategy could potentially be used to modify some of that mechanical demand while rehabilitation progressively develops tissue capacity.
That is very different from simply trying to stop the ankle moving.
Why Is Load Important in Rehabilitation?
Modern MSK rehabilitation increasingly focuses on the relationship between load and capacity.
Our tissues need load.
Muscles, tendons and bones adapt in response to appropriate mechanical stimulus.
Problems can occur when:
Demand exceeds current capacity.
This may happen because:
- Training load increases too quickly
- Tissue capacity has reduced
- An injury has occurred
- The patient has been inactive
- Work demands have changed
- Sporting demands have increased
- Rehabilitation has progressed too quickly
The answer isn’t necessarily to remove load completely.
Instead, clinicians frequently try to modify load temporarily while progressively rebuilding capacity.
Biomechanical taping may provide another tool within this process.
Dynamic Tape® vs Strapit Active Tape: Which Is Better?
This isn’t necessarily the most useful question.
The more clinically relevant question is:
What am I trying to achieve with the application?
Both tapes can be used according to biomechanical taping principles.
Rather than becoming overly focused on brands, clinicians should understand:
- The physical properties of the tape they’re using
- Direction of application
- Patient positioning
- Tape tension
- Mechanical objective
- Movement being influenced
- Patient response
Ultimately, the application should be judged by what happens to the patient—not by the name printed on the roll.
Biomechanical Tape vs Kinesiology Tape
This distinction can initially be confusing because both types of tape are elastic.
However, they aren’t necessarily being used for the same purpose.
Kinesiology Taping
Common clinical objectives include:
- Pain modulation
- Cutaneous sensory input
- Sensorimotor feedback
- Movement awareness
- Supporting rehabilitation
Biomechanical Taping
Common objectives include:
- Mechanical load modification
- Movement assistance
- Force redistribution
- Reducing demand on overloaded tissues
- Supporting functional activity
Therefore:
Elastic doesn’t automatically mean kinesiology tape.
Understanding the physical characteristics and intended clinical purpose of different tapes is important.
Biomechanical Tape vs Rigid Sports Tape
Rigid sports tape is usually selected when the clinician wants greater external support or control.
Typical objectives include:
- Restricting excessive movement
- Protecting injured ligaments
- Improving joint stability
- Supporting return to sport
- Protecting healing tissues
Biomechanical tape usually has a different objective:
Allow the movement, but influence the mechanical demands associated with it.
Again, neither approach is inherently superior.
The patient’s presentation determines which is appropriate.
Where Might Biomechanical Taping Be Useful?
Biomechanical taping principles can potentially be incorporated into the management of a wide variety of MSK presentations.
Achilles Tendinopathy
An application may be designed to modify load during walking, running or rehabilitation.
Plantar Heel Pain
Biomechanical taping may form part of a strategy aimed at changing mechanical demands during weight-bearing activity.
Patellofemoral Pain
Taping can potentially be used to influence movement or loading during activities such as squatting, stairs and running.
Patellar Tendinopathy
Load modification may help some patients tolerate rehabilitation and sporting activity.
Running Injuries
Running provides an ideal example of repetitive mechanical loading where small changes in load may become clinically relevant over thousands of steps.
Shoulder Rehabilitation
Applications may be designed to assist particular upper-limb movements or reduce muscular demand during selected activities.
Muscle Injuries
Biomechanical taping principles may also have applications where clinicians wish to assist movement while gradually restoring normal tissue loading.
Biomechanical Taping and Sport
One of the particularly interesting applications of biomechanical tape is within sport.
Athletes need to generate large forces rapidly.
Completely restricting movement is often neither possible nor desirable.
Biomechanical taping provides another option where the aim is to support movement rather than prevent it.
Potential applications include:
- Running
- Football
- Rugby
- Athletics
- Tennis
- Cycling
- Gym-based training
- Return-to-sport rehabilitation
However, taping shouldn’t be used to hide an injury that requires appropriate assessment or rehabilitation.
Don’t Use Tape to Avoid Rehabilitation
This principle applies to every taping system we teach.
Biomechanical tape isn’t a substitute for:
- Progressive strengthening
- Tendon rehabilitation
- Load management
- Movement retraining
- Conditioning
- Patient education
- Appropriate recovery
The objective isn’t to make patients dependent upon tape.
Instead, it may be used as a temporary tool that helps them tolerate the activities required to regain capacity.
Assess → Tape → Reassess
One of the most important skills we teach at CPD Today is reassessment.
Before applying the tape, identify something measurable.
For example:
- Pain during a squat
- Pain during heel raises
- Discomfort walking downstairs
- Pain raising the arm
- Running symptoms
- Functional confidence
Then apply the tape.
And repeat the test.
Ask:
Did anything change?
If the patient reports a meaningful improvement, the application may have achieved its immediate objective.
If nothing changes, simply adding more tape isn’t necessarily the answer.
Reconsider your clinical reasoning.
The Problem with Learning Taping from Social Media
There are thousands of taping videos online.
Many follow a familiar format:
“For Achilles pain, put the tape here.”
But that isn’t clinical reasoning.
Two people with Achilles pain may have completely different:
- Symptoms
- Loads
- Activities
- Tissue capacities
- Movement patterns
- Rehabilitation goals
A standard application can’t account for every variable.
Healthcare professionals therefore need to understand the principles behind the application, not simply memorise where somebody else placed the tape.
Learn Biomechanical Taping Hands-On
Biomechanical taping is particularly suited to practical learning.
Clinicians need to develop a feel for:
- Tape elasticity
- Tension
- Direction
- Anchoring
- Patient positioning
- Movement
- Application technique
These are difficult skills to develop from a photograph.
On the CPD Today Clinical Strapping & Taping Course, you’ll have the opportunity to apply different tapes, experience applications yourself and receive practical feedback.
One Course – Three Taping Approaches
One of the strengths of the CPD Today course is that we don’t teach one tape in isolation.
You’ll learn how to use and select between:
Rigid Sports Taping
For protection, support, stability and controlling unwanted movement.
Kinesiology Taping
For applications involving pain modulation, sensorimotor input, movement awareness and rehabilitation.
Biomechanical Taping
Including Dynamic Tape® and Strapit Active Tape, with applications based around load modification and movement assistance.
This gives you a much broader clinical toolkit.
Clinical Reasoning Is at the Centre of the Course
We want clinicians to leave the course asking better questions.
Not:
“Which tape do I use for knee pain?”
But:
“What am I trying to change in this patient?”
From there, you can decide:
- What is the clinical objective?
- What movement or load needs influencing?
- Which taping approach has the appropriate properties?
- How should it be applied?
- Has it changed the patient’s symptoms or function?
This is what turns taping into a clinically meaningful intervention.
Who Is the CPD Today Strapping & Taping Course For?
Our practical taping training is designed for healthcare professionals involved in musculoskeletal assessment, treatment and rehabilitation, including:
- Physiotherapists
- Osteopaths
- Chiropractors
- Sports therapists
- Rehabilitation professionals
- Other appropriately qualified MSK clinicians
It can be valuable both for practitioners new to taping and those who already use kinesiology or sports tape but want to broaden their clinical options.
Why Train with CPD Today?
Our approach is simple:
Learn. Develop. Excel.
We combine:
- Extensive hands-on practical training
- Evidence-informed teaching
- Clinical reasoning
- Multiple taping systems
- Functional assessment
- Practical applications
- Real-world MSK rehabilitation
Rather than leaving with a list of techniques to memorise, our aim is for you to understand how to adapt taping principles to the patient in front of you.
These are skills you can take straight back into clinical practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Dynamic Tape® and Strapit Active Tape the same type of taping?
They can both be used within a biomechanical taping approach. Individual tape products may have different physical characteristics, but the underlying clinical principles involve using elastic mechanical properties to influence load and movement.
Is biomechanical tape just another kinesiology tape?
No. Although both are elastic, biomechanical taping is based primarily around mechanical load modification and movement assistance, whereas kinesiology taping is commonly applied with sensory, pain-modulation and movement-awareness objectives.
Does biomechanical tape restrict movement?
Generally, restriction isn’t the primary objective. Biomechanical applications typically aim to allow functional movement while influencing the forces associated with that movement.
Can biomechanical tape help tendinopathy?
It may potentially be used as part of a load-management strategy for selected patients, but it shouldn’t replace progressive tendon rehabilitation.
Do you teach both Dynamic Tape® and Strapit Active Tape?
Our biomechanical taping teaching explores the principles and practical application of biomechanical tapes, including Dynamic Tape® and Strapit Active Tape, alongside kinesiology and rigid sports taping.
Develop Your Biomechanical Taping Skills with CPD Today
Understanding biomechanical taping adds another dimension to clinical practice.
Instead of thinking only about supporting a joint or placing tape over a painful area, clinicians begin thinking about:
Movement. Forces. Load. Capacity.
Dynamic Tape® and Strapit Active Tape provide examples of how highly elastic tapes can be incorporated into this approach.
But the tape itself is only part of the equation.
Successful clinical taping requires:
Assessment + clinical reasoning + correct application + reassessment.
That’s why the CPD Today Clinical Strapping & Taping Course combines practical teaching with the principles behind each technique.
You’ll learn rigid sports taping, kinesiology taping and biomechanical taping in one comprehensive practical course, giving you the confidence to select the right approach for different clinical situations.
Don’t just learn how to put tape on. Learn why, when and how to use it.
Book Your CPD Today Clinical Strapping & Taping Course
Develop practical skills.
Understand the evidence.
Improve your clinical reasoning.
And learn to choose:
The right tape.
For the right patient.
For the right reason.
Next in the Series
How Does Biomechanical Taping Work? Understanding Load Modification, Energy Storage and Movement Assistance
In the next article, we’ll take a deeper look at the biomechanics behind elastic taping and explore why understanding forces, load and movement is essential when applying biomechanical tape.