Q: I see a lot of people wearing colorful tape while working out. Can it really improve performance or prevent injury?

Over the past decade, kinesiology tape has become a fixture of physical therapy offices, gyms and running trails. And with fall marathon season underway, you’re likely to see many athletes sporting the colorful elastic tape, often referred to by the popular brand name KT Tape, while running and cross-training.

The stretchy strips, which are designed to move with your body as a kind of second skin, have developed a reputation for helping everyday athletes manage pain, prevent injury and improve performance. There are now dozens of iterations of the tape on the market, with different degrees of adhesion, elasticity and water resistance. Some are even infused with special ingredients like menthol or copper.

But does the tape actually do anything? The answer is more nuanced than sports scientists once thought. Here’s what to know.

Kinesiology tape may not directly affect your muscles.

Kinesiology tape was invented by a Japanese chiropractor in the 1970s, as an alternative to more rigid orthopedic tape, which limited his patients’ mobility. But it wasn’t until the 2008 Summer Olympics, when some top athletes wore the tape during competition, that it became a mainstream fitness tool.

Around this time, sports medicine experts theorized that the tape could improve muscle function by lifting skin and other tissue in a way that improved blood flow, promoted lymphatic drainage and generally encouraged muscles to work more optimally, said Christopher DaPrato, a physical therapist at the University of California, San Francisco, who works with elite athletes.

“When tape came on the scene, there was a big push towards the mechanical effects of it,” Dr. DaPrato said. But research has found little evidence that the tape works in this way, he said.

The benefits may be neurological and psychological.

Still, many athletes report feeling better when they wear the tape, especially if they apply it near areas that feel achy or strained.

Research now suggests that the tape may have neurological and psychological benefits. Most notably, some studies have found that, in some circumstances, the tape can help to improve proprioception — a scientific term for body awareness. For example, if you have the tape on your ankle, you might be more cognizant of the way your foot hits the ground while jogging. Better proprioception is linked with better balance and coordination.

Some experts theorize that the tape works by putting pressure on the layer of tissue right beneath your skin, which contains receptors and nerve endings linked with proprioception. This pressure is believed to “amplify the signal” between wherever the tape is applied and the brain, said Shashank Ghai, an associate senior lecturer at Karlstad University in Sweden, who has studied kinesiology tape. Yet, he cautions that the tape’s effect on proprioception appears to be modest, and not all studies have shown a link. “You cannot expect magnificent results,” he said.

Some studies also suggest that the tape can help lessen the perception of pain, said Fatemeh Dehghan Chenijani, a doctoral candidate in kinesiology at Wayne State University and the lead author of a 2024 review study of kinesiology taping in sports. But the evidence is still largely mixed there, too.

One theory has remained consistent in the research: For many athletes, the benefits of kinesiology tape are psychological, or placebo effects.

Applying tape over a weak muscle, or an area prone to injury, can give athletes a sense of security during their training or competition, the experts said.

“It makes your brain feel better,” Dr. DaPrato said, so “it may just give you a little more confidence, and reduce some of the fear and avoidance or anxiety you might have around an area that is feeling not so great.”

This confidence may help you to train harder, or move more fluidly, he added.

Finding the right tape can take trial and error.

A decade ago, sports medicine specialists thought kinesiology tape needed to be applied very precisely, typically by a trained expert, to be effective. But many clinicians now believe that people can apply it themselves, Dr. DaPrato said.

You may have to try a few models to find the right fit. “Pick a brand that stays on your skin and feels good,” Dr. DaPrato said. “It doesn’t matter what color it is, or what branding they have.” If you’re planning to wear the tape during a race or competition, test it out before the big day.

Dr. DaPrato recommends stretching the tape over muscles or ligaments that feel weak or unstable when you exercise, rather than putting it directly over a painful area. But don’t overdo it — wrapping the tape too tightly or layering it on too thick could limit blood flow or range of motion. If you’re looking for guidance on where to start, a physical therapist can help.

While kinesiology tape may be a helpful tool, it’s not a replacement for training or rehabilitation. “It’s a great short-term crutch,” Dr. DaPrato said. But ultimately, you’ll benefit most by building the strength necessary to wean off it.