The concept of impregnated cloth was used in Egypt for mummification as early as 3000 BCE. Early forms of surgical tape, or sparadrapum, consisting of strips of cloth impregnated with some type of plaster or sticky gum, were known to be used in Italy as early as the thirteenth century. Dr Horace Day, a US surgeon, used rubber adhesive applied to strips of fabrics as a form of surgical tape in 1845. This became a forerunner of the Band Aid, developed by Johnson & Johnson.
In 1885 Mr Edward Cotterell, house surgeon to the University College Hospital, London, published On Some Common Injuries to Limbs; Their Treatment and After-Treatment, Including Bone Setting (So Called), where he applied adhesive strapping plaster (tape) to ‘Rupture of the Plantaris Tendon, “Lawn Tennis Leg”’ and ‘Sprains of the Ankle Joint’. The tape provided support, reduced pain and facilitated early ambulation. Inspired by Cotterell’s advice, Dr Virgil Gibney of the US published an article in 1893 outlining his use of adhesive tape to provide stability and support of the sprained ankle. The “Gibney Basketweave” taping method would remain a mainstay of ankle taping and be adapted to tape other parts of the body.
The rubber adhesive was highly irritating to the skin leading Johnson & Johnson to introduce their new zinc oxide based adhesive plasters (tape) in 1899; and modern athletic strapping tape was born.
Description provided by Glenn Ruscoe of Australia.
References:
Cotterell E. 1885. On some common injuries to limbs; Their treatment and after-treatment, including bone setting (so called). HK Lewis, London. Accessed online on 1 November 2021 at https://wellcomecollection.org/works/nj4u72f2/items?canvas=7.
Gibney V. 1893. The Modern Treatment of the Sprained ankle. The New York Polyclinic, p3 – 6. Accessed online on 1 November 201 at http://athletictraininghistory.com/resources/Gibney%201893.pdf.
