Basically, hardly ridden because of knee cap misalignment since April and now I am about to explode with pent up Gnar. And I have an ‘Ard Rock Enduro I desperately want to do.

So far, knee cap misaligned to the outer edge, muscle imbalance due to weak muscle on inner side. I have seen NHS physio who gave diagnosis, exercises and McConnell taping method.

Problem is, the tape just doesn’t stay in place. It fell off just getting into the greenhouse that is a tractor cab the other day. Most days it falls off by 10 in the morning just due to normal movement, warmth, sweat and abrasion.

Mondays physio has just been cancelled and will be a while before another one comes up around here. Got some Kinesiology tape in the hope it will stay put, but what to do with it?

Anyone got some taping recommendations?

Found this which has elements of McConnell:
[video]https://youtu.be/Kg9L_DSWspw[/video]

Weird, I get several days out of the over-the-counter Kinesiology tape that you buy in Boots. Shave and wash my knee beforehand though. I’ve sort of adapted the McConnel taping a bit, just pull the kneecap inwards without applying the downward pressure. Seems to work…

Have you thought about a Patella stabiliser?

I’d get a brace – that enabled me to balance the muscles out with some running.

Was nearly 20 years ago though.

Got the kinesiology tape as it appears to be of stickier stuff than the two tapes used in the regular McConnell tape. Seems to stay on rugby players for the duration of a game from my observations.
I put the regular tape on when, clean and dry. Not shaved, but I’m no bear, just a bit of downy hair around the knee. Just seems to fall off. I’m a fairly warm person, so don’t think that helps.

I mentioned a brace to the physio, but they didn’t seem to rate it, too much heat kept in and not as directional.

Had also thought that knee guards over the tape would do the job, but the tape just releases underneath.

Just found a private physio, so booked to see them as next NHS one will be at least 4 if not 6 weeks.

The trouble with taping is that it doesn’t really do very much…
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24856938
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23306413
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/kinesio-tape-athletes-help-hype
https://skeptoid.com/blog/2012/08/13/kinesio-tape-the-evidence/

…and there are suggestions that athletes in televised events were actually paid to make sure it was visible…

Interesting stuff Crikey, can see what they mean about elastic on skin not really holding stuff in position and some of the videos seem a bit ‘who can do the most complicated pretty pattern’.

Equally, some stuff on McConnell suggests the direction isn’t important, just squeezing the cap down to find its groove.

But I’m not a physio, just a body abuser.

Yeah, some of the kinesio tape placement does look suspect, but I’m a middle aged IT consultant, not a pro physio.

Knee taping def works if your patella doesn’t track properly though.

Have you tried the white zinc-oxide tape?

Without knowing the full story, would a set of orthotics not help keep your knee in alignment ?

The pink top tape I currently use is zinc oxide. Tried it without the under tape which is there to protect the skin from the zinc oxide, but didn’t last much longer.
Probably doesn’t help that the knee is a joint with a long range of movement.

I’ve had a bit of this. Taping and a lot of foam rolling of the tight quad did the trick.

I used two layers of tape. The first was some sort of incredibly sticky fabric which meant the second layer of tape which was applying the sideways pressure didn’t come off.

M6TTF – not sure, I spend a lot of time on my feet, but don’t do any running. Possibly more likely related to the way I position myself by the tractor when operating the winch (foot on back wheel, pulling control rope) and having ready developed muscles from cycling (I like to think).

crikey – Member

…and there are suggestions that athletes in televised events were actually paid to make sure it was visible…

Studies have shown users find tape is more effective if it’s blue than if it’s black, and even more effective if applied in pretty patterns 😆 But this is a different usage to the more snakeoiley approaches.

My bro has 2 ****ed knees, he’s had some success with tape but he’s given it up now he has good braces.

I am not surpirsed taping around the knee doesn’t, just too much movement. Will some decent braces not help ? As above getting a half decent brace (eg ones with velcro you can adjust) and then building up muscle slowly makes sense to me. I posted this in a thread hora started.

Mrs B has one from lohmann-rauscher.com – Velpeau Laxiteral (bought in Chamonix so all French naming)

Also I use Genuaction from Thuasne as general protection now my knee is “better” (broekn acl and oter damage)

Finally if your knee isn’t right ‘ard rock enduro is out of the question I would have thought

I’d look at shimming your cleats as a longer term solution to knee tracking. It’s not that hard of course this presupposes you ride clip less. If not, then try some Specialized insoles with an orthotic wedge.

Flat pedal rider. First noticed the problem getting up from the sofa.

When it is held in place and tracking correctly, it doesn’t seem to give me any grief.

‘Ard Rock isn’t far from some friends the wife will be visiting that weekend anyway, so as the event has a very inflexible entry that won’t let me transfer my entry to a friend that would want to do it, may as well go along and try it. First descent better be good.
Uplift days have been alright, just uncomfortable to put the power down or pedal up.