American Fork, UT – KT Tape®, the leader in sports related drug-free pain and injury relief through the use of their advanced recovery products, is revolutionizing the baby care industry by combining their recognized kinesiology tape with standard disposable diapers.
A baby, shown here wearing a conventional disposable diaper without kinesiology tape to help support pelvic and abdominal muscle and soft tissue, who is unable maintain an appropriate upright posture
“The disposable diaper is an amazing product that parents and other caregivers of young children depend on,” KT Tape® CEO Jessica Klodnicki explained. “But there hasn’t been a design upgrade since the introduction of a super-absorbent polymer to the crotch in 1984.”
The new diapers from KT Tape® will utilize the same “lift and lock” technology that makes their popular line of kinesiology tapes so effective. According to Klodnicki, there is the potential for significant medical benefit in addition to the established convenience of modern disposable diapers. “Our KT Diapers® will gently, but powerfully, lift the skin and subcutaneous tissue in the pelvis and lower abdomen, improving blood flow and lymphatic drainage and helping to reduce fussiness from gas, constipation, and colic.”
Helping to enable athletes and fitness enthusiasts to perform at their best has always been a fundamental guiding principle of the KT Tape® philosophy. With the introduction of KT Diapers®, this goal of improved comfort and functionality hasn’t changed. They will be distributed to caregivers, medical professionals, and daycare centers through major retailers, specialty baby stores, and medical supply distributors worldwide.
“These diapers are built for performance,” KT Tape® Product Design Director Lucinda Crepe explained. “Yes, they are going to help these babies feel better, function better, and probably start walking earlier than kids using conventional diapers, but they are also going to soak up a lot of urine and feces so that a baby can reliably do their business without fear of leaks or blowouts.”
KT Diapers® are designed to be applied to an infant’s skin by caregivers without specific training. But in order to achieve maximum benefit, Crepe revealed that some training would be necessary. “Seeking out a fully certified kinesiology taping practitioner for every diaper change isn’t practical. We do recommend that caregivers undergo KT Diaper® specific training on our website in order to avoid injuries, however. And for a small annual fee, anyone who changes diapers regularly can obtain a full certification that will give them the confidence to train others and even charge for the service.”
Tossing out the diaper full of nonsense
We’ve discussed so-called kinesiology tape a few times on SBM over the years, most recently in a serious 2023 post by Scott Gavura on implausible claims involving improved cell oxygenation and sports performance. Way back in the Before Times of 2018, I also discussed a very real study that investigated the influence of kinesiology tape color on athletic performance. Feel free to read it, though I doubt you will be surprised to learn that tape color doesn’t matter or that the authors still called for more research regardless of that fact.
Kinesiology tape is just stretchy tape that gently lifts the skin. In the few years that have passed since my 2018 post, no evidence has come to light that counters my assessment at the time:
Though these products are popular, the explanations given by proponents are highly implausible and the evidence to date is resoundingly negative. The specific patterns, which proponents believe provide a unique benefit, are irrelevant. KT appears to be just a more expensive equivalent to the old-fashioned athletic tape traditionally used to help stabilize a joint or to provide compression bandaging to reduce swelling after an acute injury.
When it comes to pain relief or athletic performance, there may be a non-specific benefit that comes from expectation or, as has been skillfully argued* by our own (sadly no longer) Paul Ingraham, the application of a novel sensory input. So kinesiology taping might serve as either a simple distraction from discomfort or a less impressive version of Dumbo’s magic feather, but there is no evidence to support benefit from unique “biomechanical tuning”. This would explain why perceived benefits tend to be transient as novel sensations quickly attenuate when continuously applied to the skin.
* https://www.painscience.com/articles/kinesio-taping.php
My earlier post should have been satire but was about an actual study designed and implemented by real scientists. My post today, however, clearly is satire but is based on very real claims made by proponents/believers in kinesiology tape. And to be honest, I’m kind of surprised that somebody hasn’t tried to sell a kinesiology diaper yet.
This would be a logical next step that is no sillier than promoting tape to help cells suck up more oxygen and improve muscle function. And parents of young infants are a population often desperate for anything that might help with a fussy baby and thus primed to part ways with loads of cash. What do you say? Any potential angel investors out there? Let’s do this!