Taping to protect pulleys

jerome pink

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I have been reading a climbing training book and it has come up with an interesting point that I had not thought about.   It suggests that taping to protect the pulleys in the hand is counter productive as 1: it is mostly done incorrectly (im not really sure what correctly would be) and 2: it builds up a reliance on the tape to the point were if tape is forgotten the person is much more likely to injure themselves as they will have become dependent on the tape to protect the pulleys.   What do people think of this?   I have never really taped before but had considered starting as I tweaked a pulley the other day training.  

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Ludwig Davidsson

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Hi ! I'm not an expert but I'd say that you may tape your finger/fingers if you feel some kind of pain. But if it hurts while crimping even with tape then try to take some days rest and then start of light with taped finger/fingers. I've been tapeing my fingers for a while now but I'm concerned about the thing you wrote about the pulleys getting dependent on the tape ?! I think one should try to just listen to the body, but how funny is it actually to take restdays !! :(

User Deactivated

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Have a read of " Tape and other catastrophes (PDF) " http://www.athlon.com.au/articles.htm Its quite good. It highlights some of the common mistakes etc

Sean Doyle

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I climb without tape. If my fingers hurt then I back off for a while and change from the sort of holds or climbing that is causing the pain. I have that luxury because I don't earn a living from climbing so I am not desperate to keeping progressing for my next meal. I also believe that the fingers develop a dependancy on the tape which is not natural. That's my opinion anyway. Also check out this..... http://onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.com/2007/06/finger-injury-treatment-videocast.html I've had what seems like success with this technique and the reasoning behind it would appear sound to me.

Bjoern Alber

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Hi JP there has been a lot of studies on this , some are outlined in the comments here. You should tape to be able to climb light /rehab) when you have a tweaked, inflammaed pulley but not ,as a rule , when climbing all the time as it will weaken the structures. You can use it occasionally on hard projects (eg 1 finger pocket..) but as outlined in the above mentioned articles and in the book -One move to many - if you tape without knowing exactly what you are doing it might even be counterproductive good luck björn

Morgan Barnes

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"A Swiss researcher by the name of Scheizer, did a study using live climber's hands in 2000. He measured the force of bowstringing and the force of bowstringing against the tape. He found that taping over the A2 pulley decreased bowstringing by 2.8% and absorbed 11% of the force. Taping just below the PIP joint (just beyond the A2 pulley) decreased bowstringing by 22% and absorbed 12% of total force." Training for Climbing by Eric J H ö rst