This paper presents a novel, compact, monopole apple-shaped, and triple-band metamaterial printed antenna for wireless body area network (WBAN) and medical body area network (MBAN) applications. The antenna is backed by a tri-band uniplanar compact electromagnetic bandgap (UC-EBG) structure that acts as a ground plane and incorporates metamaterial triangular complementary splitring resonators (TCSRRs). The proposed printed textile antenna operates at 2.45 GHz for wireless local area network (WLAN), 3.5 GHz for 5G new radio (NR), and 5.8 GHz for industrial, scientific, and medical bands. Implementing the UC-EBG structure resulted in a 99&#37; decrease in the specific absorption rate (SAR) values over 1 g and 10 g of tissues and achieved gains of 5.45, 6.09, and 7.63 dBi at 2.45, 3.5, and 5.8 GHz, respectively. Due to its high performance, low SAR values, and compact size of 39 &times; 39 &times; 2.84 mm<sup>3</sup> (0.41 &lambda;<sub>g</sub> &times; 0.41 &lambda;<sub>g</sub> &times; 0.029 &lambda;<sub>g</sub> ), the proposed antenna is an attractive candidate for wearable healthcare, fitness monitoring devices, and other WBAN/MBAN applications.