The truth behind taping
Bethel athletes and trainers share the positives and negatives of taping ankles.
By Mathias Durie and Conrad Engstrom | Sports Reporters
Bethel University freshman basketball player Lily Porta do it now, but in high school her coach made all of his players wear braces or get taped. She twisted, rolled and sprained both of her ankle multiple times during high school and felt that wearing braces all the time caused her ankles to become weaker and more susceptible to injury.
“Sometimes after I roll my ankles I will tape them for a game or a practice,” Porta said. “But I don’t think it’s necessary for prevention.”
Not all athletes, even playing the same sport, trust their ankles to support the running, jumping and cutting that comes with basketball. Freshman teammate Maria Vavra wears ankle braces for games, but not practices. She doesn’t want to rely on the support that comes with braces in practice to keep her ankles strong but she recognizes having more support for the extra stress put on during games could be helpful in preventing injuries.
“There’s times when you should and there’s times when you shouldn’t,” Vavra said. “Your body gets used to having that extra support.”
Each trainer tapes differently as far as tightness, length and thickness. These inconsistencies can cause athletes to lose trust in the support they receive from the tape. For this reason some athletes choose to use ankle braces that are more consistent.
“I feel like there’s too much variation in taping,” Porta said.
Alisha Hvistendahl has been an assistant athletic trainer at Bethel University for 12 years and she is the head trainer for the men’s basketball and volleyball teams. Before her time at Bethel, she worked for the Minnesota Lynx from 2002–2006 and prior to that, an assistant trainer from 1999–2001.
“There is a place for taping ankles and it is effective, but we find that research shows that after 20 minutes with the sweat it loses it effectiveness. A lot of people are doing it for prevented reasons and having your ankle tight during competitions.” — Alisha Hvistendahl, assistant athletic trainer.
Hvistendahl tapes more than half the men’s basketball team because most of them have a history of spraining ankles. However, she understands the downsides of taping ankles.
“There is a place for taping ankles and it is effective,” Hvistendahl said. “But we find that research shows that after 20 minutes with the sweat, it loses its effectiveness. A lot of people are doing it for preventative reasons and having your ankle tight during competitions.”
For her, braces and a tape do the same job, but some players prefer the tape to the brace. During games, Hvistendahl will re-tape ankles during halftime to make sure that the ankle stays tight and is still supported. It’s all precautionary for guys with ankle problems because once they suffer one ankle sprain it is easy to do it again.
“If you have ankle sprains in the past you are getting taped or braces,” Hvistendahl said. “Volleyball will brace no matter what though.”
Working for a professional team, Hvistendahl had long hours that made the job more stressful. She said that, depending on the day and the type of injury, she would talk to the team doctors and even the teams general manager to keep them up to date with the health of the players. At Bethel, Hvistendahl just talks to the coach about a player’s injury.
One time with the Lynx, a player knew she needed to be taped but did not come to get taped after shoot around. It did not bother Hvistendahl when the athlete did this but she just needed to know what the player was going to do so she could tell the coaches.
“I needed to let the coaches know so if she did sprain an ankle the coaches would not be like ‘What’s up with that Alisha?’,” Hvistendahl said.
As a freshman basketball player at Bethel, Porta doesn’t wear braces or athletic tape on her ankles. She is confident with the strength of her ankles and that she doesn’t need an outside source as support.
“I see taping as a way of healing an injury but not as a preventative thing,” Porta said.
