Yesterday, the league came to Derrick Rose and told him he had to stop wearing kinesio tape on his neck, something he had done since the second game of the season after tweaking his neck.
When asked first asked, the league said it was banning kinesio tape in general, but after speaking to the NBA players union the league has reversed course for now.
“After a discussion today with Jerry Stackhouse, representing the union, we have decided to allow kinesio tape on an experimental basis so that we can take a fresh look at the possible benefits it might bring to our players,” Tim Frank, NBA Senior Vice President, Basketball Communications, told ProBasketballTalk in an email.
While you see a lot of athletes wearing kinesio tape — check out a major tennis match some time — the benefits are unproven. Tests have been inconclusive and some experts are skeptical that it has any benefits, and apparently the skeptics extend all the way to the league offices. It is thought by some any benefit from the tape is a placebo effect.
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I think the league made the right call here. No, the benefits of kinesio tape are not proven, however, the league hadn’t stopped players from wearing bracelets with a magnet in them where the company that manufactures them has had to pay out tens of millions of dollars in lawsuit settlements over false claims about the impacts of the bands. Where the league draws the line on this seems pretty arbitrary, as some studies found some benefits for kinesio tape in certain situations.
Bottom line is if he wants to, Derrick Rose can tape up for the Bulls game against the Pacers Wednesday night, and other players can follow in his footsteps.