By Deb the friendly lurker on Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 02:09 pm:

Hi people.

As some of you know, my ankles are wrecked. I'm adjusting to orthotics. I can't wear them right now because they need to be adjusted. The PT fitting the orthotics does not want me to wear rigid (hinged) braces, because she wants my body to realign itself with the orthotic correction.

In the meanwhile, I need some ankle support. Elastic bandages do nothing. Taping my ankles worked really well, but I'm allergic or chemically sensitive to the adhesive, and my ankles break out in an itchy rash even if I use an underwrap.

I live in a city and walk everywhere. Walking without ankle support feels like walking on soft sand at the beach. So much work, such short strides, and a stress fracture in my second metatarsal.

Does anyone in the US know of an athletic tape that's made for people who are allergic to ordinary adhesive?

By Clara UK on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 07:55 am:

I used to use the tape over the top of a pair of cheap socks. My parents fly a lot and get the shapeless airline socks free of charge, but you could just get a pack of cheap ones from a 99 cent store, etc. and tape over the socks. You may have to cut the tape and/or socks to get it off, but you don't go through a pair every single day, and at least you would get the support during the day.