Budget Taping with PowerTape

I received an email from Andover Healthcare, makers of PowerFlex and PowerTape.  I have spoken about these products before and am a big fan. Andover Healthcare's latest pitch to get people to use their products is cost savings.  Since PowerTape only sticks to PowerFlex or itself you need to use PowerFlex in place off underwrap.  While I have found PowerTape to be less expensive than J&J Coach, the additional cost of using PowerFlex as an underwrap is cost prohibitive.  Andover touts the use of a modified ankle taping in order stretch the amount of tape used and thereby saving money.  


See the flyer below. The link for the video of the technique is here: http://andoverhealthcare.com/videos/budget_taping.html. Basically, they recommend starting your top anchors only 2-3 inches above the malleolus.   While this cuts down on the amount of tape used you immediately question the amount of support provided.  Personally, I would only use this technique while taping prophylactically, otherwise I would revert to the more traditional technique.  I have developed my own technique combining both white adhesive tape and PowerTape.  See below for my explanation.

http://andoverhealthcare.com/videos/budget_taping.html to view video of technique

My technique combines the traditional white adhesive tape with the combination of PowerTape. I call this a hybrid. Apply the anchors and stirrups in the traditional method using your favorite white adhesive.  From here on, using only PowerTape, start with a figure eight.  This gives you the base for all subsequent strips to adhere to. After the figure eight, apply your horseshoes working your way up the ankle filling it in as you finish over your previously applied adhesive tape anchors. Now that you have a solid foundation of PowerTape, you then apply your heel locks and any other strips you prefer. To recap:

1. White adhesive tape
1. anchors and stirrups
2. PowerTape
1. horseshoes, filling in up to the top
2. heel locks
3. additional strips to your liking

This is my technique for using PowerTape on a limited budget.