Hi there,
I have been using Kinesio Tape for the last 5+ years and have found it to be exceptionally good for certain types of injuries. For the purposes of full disclosure I should point out that I believe in the product so much that I became an instructor and now teach the techniques to other health professionals in Australia and New Zealand.

I totally agree that there has not been much comprehensive research into how and why Kinesio Taping works but it would not be the first technique/procedure where the fact that it works was discovered long before the reasons why.
The lack of empirical evidence should not be seen as a threat to it’s validity, but an opportunity to explore further why Kinesio Tape seems to get the results that it does.

What may be worthwhile considering is that practitioners (like myself) who get results are usually too busy to go do the research.
Universities on the other hand wait for a considerable time for new techniques to consolidate with the public before spending their energy on researching them.

I use Kinesio Tape regularly in my physiotherapy clinics and have been able to get people going again where other techniques have failed.

When I first trained in the technique I was also quite skeptical.
Walking away from the course I thought to myself at the very least I had revised my anatomy knowledge! But I decided to give the tape a go and on the very first client I tried it on it seemed to have amazing results, much more than what I would have considered placebo. I was consulting a woman who was unable to walk more than 5m or so (house bound) and was unable to do a straight leg raise against gravity. I thought to myself “here’s a test to see if this thing works!” so I stuck the tape on the appropriate muscles and without any other treatment she was immediately able to lift her leg against gravity. Her immediate question was if the tape had a steroid or some such drug in it and I had to convince her that it was just tape and adhesive. Suffice to say I have had similar amazing results since.

I have also used it on other health professionals (including my colleagues) who understand their anatomy and can recognise all too well if something is merely placebo or if it is actually doing something for them.

It is worth noting that whilst it has come to prominence recently in the sporting arena, it is in the more mundane (from a media point of view) chronic and lymphatic conditions that it has been the bread and butter of Kinesio Taping practitioners for many years. When you see swelling reduce or bruising disappearing within a day, you know that’s it’s not a placebo effect.

Cheers,
Thuy