A fashionably sticky answer to Olympic aches, pains [news]

There is little hard evidence that sports tape does all it claims to do. Athletes must be falling apart because, suddenly, everyone from Novak Djokovic to Lance Armstrong is taped up. Are these elaborate weaves of coloured ''kinesio tape'' a genuine leap forward in the treatment of sports injuries? Or is the tape, ubiquitous at the Olympics, the new Kabbalah bracelet? Kinesio Tex Tape, a strong elasticated tape, was developed more than 30 years ago by a Japanese chiropractor, Dr Kenzo Kase. He found the application of the tape replicated some of the beneficial effects of manual therapy - such as massage - in reducing pain and soreness for injured patients.