Coiled tubing injector with strain relief

A coiled tubing injector, rollers on the backside of grippers on a gripper chain pass over at least one shallow groove or depression formed in, or gap between segments of, a planar roller contact surface of a skate, thereby momentarily removing or reducing the force being applied by the skate to the grippers as the grippers pass through at least one predetermined location within a gripping zone of the coiled tubing injector. The reduction or removal of the force on the grippers allows the grippers to reset their positions on the tubing at one or more predetermined locations in order to accommodate changes in the strain caused by changes in stress as the tubing moves through the injector.