Taping Tuesday: Week eleven - The AC joint

This week we bring in a special guest star Toby Plant from the Claremont Football Club, who gets his AC joint strapped by Practice Principal and Claremont Football Club Physiotherapist Anthony McEvoy.

Ensure the skin is clean and dry before applying the tape, we also recommend the use of fixomull to prevent irritation as this can be a sensitive areas. This tape is frequently used following injury to the Acromioclavicular (AC) joint which commonly happens with direct and traumatic contact. People who have this injury commonly demonstrate a ‘step’ deformity where there is a visible bump above the shoulder complex.

After watching the above video, some important steps to note when taping for anterior instability are:

• The Anchor – Always begin with fixomull then anchor down across the top of the shoulder and circumferentially around the biceps, ensuring the biceps is tense.
• Direct Support – When compared with week three of Taping Tuesday and the anterior dislocation tape it is important to differentiate how to support this joint. As opposed to rotatory stability it is important to ensure that there is direct straight line criss cross tapes that run directly over the AC joint ensuring its stability.
• Elastic Wrap – Finishing with elastic tape allows the athlete to maintain good function and stability and lock off any loose edges.
• Lock off – A final anchor to lock off the loose edges of the elastic tape can be combined with a wrap around the waist to ensure it stays on.

There goes another episode of Taping Tuesday, don’t hesitate to give us a call on (08) 9384 3269 or book an appointment online if you need us to tape anything or help you with any of your musculoskeletal needs.