KT (or Kinesiology Tape) tape, to put it simply, is designed to hold muscles in place. Ideally, muscles need to be rehabilitated and given plenty of rest in order to recover. For athletes who can’t afford to ease up, they need a temporary solution that allows them to continue using their muscles without damaging them further.
In the game of volleyball, shoulder bursitis is a fairly common injury. When players extend and rotate their arms too much, the ligaments in their rotator cuff start to weaken or grind down. This causes the player a lot of pain. Sometimes the pain is enough to keep a player from laying on it, making it hard to sleep, which makes it even harder to recover.
When playing volleyball, a player might make their injury worse. To prevent further injury, players will use KT tape on their shoulder, whether it’s for bursitis or if they’re recovering from a dislocated shoulder (which is also common in volleyball).
Also read: Why Do Volleyball Players Tape Their Fingers?
Putting KT Tape On A Shoulder
For the shoulder, you’ll need a few specially shaped pieces of KT tape. The first is the Y-shape tape. This tape is designed to have a base at the bottom and will extend in two different directions. You would start by taping the base of the tape to the outside of your arm with the Y part pointing up.
Bring your arm in front of your body and tape on side of the Y up your arm and around your shoulder. Bring your arm back down and tape the other side going around the back of your arm and around your shoulder as well.
This should create a tightness that feels like your biceps and triceps are being pulled upwards toward your shoulder and the outside of your shoulder is being pulled down towards your bicep and tricep. This step can be completed with two single strips of KT tape that cover the same area.
You can also use one strip of tape going from the base of the Y-shape tape to the top of the tape going across. This will give an added layer of tension to bring your muscles higher.
Next, you’ll need a single strip of KT tape, preferably a wider piece, to go across your should from front to back. Think about how your muscles are being pulled up and down. This tape is to connect them from side to side. Essentially, you are pulling in the muscle surrounding your shoulder toward your shoulder.