Taping Fingers For Climbing: Why and How

If you’ve been to a climbing gym or seen a rock climber up at a cliffside, you may have noticed them taping their fingers. Climbers typically tape their fingers either because their skin is torn or ready to tear or they are trying to provide tendon support. Depending on the purpose of the taping, there are different taping methods.

Many doctors and physical therapists have reviewed the use of tape for supporting tendons before the injury and after injury. Their findings tend to suggest that taping will not provide the support for risky movements that caused the injury in the first place. Unfortunately, the tape tends to have the psychological effect of making climbers feel stronger than they actually are. This sense of strength increases the chance of making risky movements causing further damage. To prevent this, always be mindful of the movements you are making as a climber and go easy on your tendons.

With that being the case, if you’re a beginner climber, skip to the end of this article where I talk about using tape for skin protection and not for structural support

How Pulley Injuries Happen

Pulley injuries, unfortunately, are one of the most common injuries reported by climbers. Our fingers, use pulleys and tendons instead of muscles to flex and move them.  When you are climbing a route and your feet fly off leaving you with only your fingers to hold your body weight, it is common to have an uncontrolled contraction and that kind of load and strain can create tears or blowouts. Overuse injuries are also very common when it comes to fingers for rock climbing. A healthy finger requires appropriate rest and recovery, which is challenging when you are out on a climbing trip. The middle finger and the ring finger tend to be the most common finger injury culprits of injuries with the A2 pulley injury being among the worst. The most common hand position that is related to the injury is the crimp grip.

You typically know that you have an injury if you hear a popping sound or an audible crack in your finger, feel pain when you pinch the nerve or if you see inflammation. Things like gripping your steering wheel become uncomfortable and holding a cup of tea become unbearable.

Unfortunately, this very common climbing injury takes a long time to recover. Even if it isn’t bad enough to get surgery, it is likely to be months before you feel like you’ve fully recovered.

Prevent Injury

Being careful with the amount of load you put on your fingers can help but it’s unlikely that you can completely prevent things like your feet cutting and flying off the wall. However, things like your climbing grips can make it less likely for you to get injured if you do cut your feet.

For example, when you are crimping a hold, attempt to use an open-handed grip instead of a closed crimp position, that way there is less strain on your tendons to keep your body on the hold if your feet do cut. This gripping technique can help provide The more crimping strength you have, the easier it will be to maintain an open hand crimp so consider that when you are looking into injury prevention.

Minimize your use of mono holds or two-finger pockets to prevent the isolation of specific tendons. Of course, you likely won’t get as much out of your climbing session if you aren’t using these types of holds or grip positions but being aware of the risks should help you mitigate issues.

Taping injured tendons

There are ways to tape your fingers if you have an injured tendon. However, there have been multiple studies suggesting that the force you put on your tendons while climbing is much higher than the support that tape can provide. With that being the case, avoid taping injured tendons and take a break from climbing instead to allow full recovery of your tendons.

Hooper’s beta did an awesome video about this and whether or not tape actually helps prevent tendon injuries. And he pointed out that there have been studies to show that it’s only an 11% decrease in the stress on your tendons. This means that there is very little mechanical advantage for the use of medical tape.

Providing Structural Support

One of the main reasons that climbers tape their fingers is because they are trying to prevent finger tendon injuries such as ruptured pulleys. Tape, however, has been found to be more of a psychological tool than actually preventing a pulley injury. With that being the case, the following climbing tape methods should be considered as a slight crutch and not an ideal solution.

If you are feeling pain in your tendons, stop climbing and start rehabbing your finger tendons. An injured finger is not worth your possible send. 

Taping Method

There are a couple of common taping techniques when it comes to flexor tendons or an injured pulley. The most common in recent years is the H method, however, older climbers will likely be found using the crisscross method or the X method.

Crisscross Method

Clean the finger that you want to tape from any chalk or dirt with water and try to make your finger as dry as possible so the tape will stick.

Tear the tape into 3mm wide strips

Start the taping by creating a ring near the top of where your finger needs support and then crisscross over the area you want to protect and cover the joint. Then finish the tape off by creating another ring shape at the bottom of the support area.

Though your finger will feel secure, an injured tendon won’t be able to support your body weight, even with the tape.

The Ring Method

This is the simplest way to tape your finger but I am hesitant to include it in this article because it does little to prevent getting an injured finger and little to support an injured pulley. Simply put, you take a 10mm (1cm) wide piece of tape and wrap it around the area that needs support. Make sure that the tape isn’t too tight to cut off circulation but tight enough to create a border around the affected area.

The idea behind this tape method is to keep everything in place and prevent blowouts. However, there have been many physical therapists suggesting that it really doesn’t provide the support you’d actually need to support the load your tendons go under while climbing. In contrast, one study about the circumferential taping on flexor tendons can increase the A2 pulley’s load to failure.

The X Method

The X method is commonly recommended because it doesn’t restrict your fingers’ ability to bend but it still provides support for the finger. Essentially, you’ll take a medium to a wide strip of tape and make a ring above the affected area, then cross to the other side of the affected area. Then make another ring and cross back over to the first ring creating an “X.”

The H Method

The H method is probably the most recommended method for just about any finger tendon issue. It has the benefit of movability in the finger so it doesn’t restrict the position you put your fingers in while also providing more support than the X method. When it comes to the impact of taping, this is often the one that is recommended the most. In a study by Schweizer about the H-Tape method, the tape would increase the load to failure, which could prevent a pulley injury.

You’ll need wider tape for this method and instead of taping different pieces together, you’ll actually cut or tear the tape as if you were tearing it down the middle but stop short to the middle of the piece. Then you’ll repeat the process on the other side of the tape. Keep the center intact so it is still one piece of tape.

Place the center of the tape on the injured area and then make a ring around the top and bottom of the affected area using the torn pieces of tape.

This is a relatively easy process once you get it down and it has been suggested in some studies to be the most effective taping method.

That being said, some people say that it doesn’t stay tight on your finger as well as some of the other methods so you may need to test it out a few times to figure out the right length of tape. If needed, you can add additional layers of tape around the ring area.

Using Tape For Skin Injuries

There are two main skin injuries in climbing. The flapper, which is a layer of skin tears off and is only remaining on your hand by a small edge creating a flap with the loose skin and a split, which is when the skin splits apart and looks like a nasty papercut. An experienced climber will often tape the affected area so the texture of the holds doesn’t hurt that skin more or cause additional damage. Taping also decreases the sensitivity of that skin, which is good when it comes to decreasing pain while still being able to climb.

Taping your fingers for skin injuries not only provides skin protection, but it also protects any loose skin from falling off so that your body can heal that part of the skin easier.

There are two negative sides to taping your fingers for skin injuries. First, the sensitivity that I mentioned decreasing can help you keep climbing, but it can also be negative because you no longer have that biofeedback regarding the holds you are gripping and gauging if you are slipping.

The second negative reason is that the more you use tape, the less your skin is going to adapt to the texture of climbing indoors or outdoors. If your skin doesn’t increase endurance, then it will be hard to do any long climbing sessions and you may always leave the gym with painful skin.

So it’s ideal to minimize the use of tape, especially when you’re first getting into climbing.

For me, if I take a break from climbing and then go back to it at the same rigorous schedule I’ve trained at before, I always notice my skin peeling like a snake losing its skin.

If I get tares or splits, I do tape my finger. However, if I get a flapper, I tend to cut the climbing session at that point and give my skin the 3ish days it takes to recover. Sometimes, if my skin is still fresh and still healing from a flap, I’ll tape the new skin to prevent it from re-injury.

Tips for taping splits and tares

If you are taping the tip of your finger, apply a vertical piece to the fingertip and then use an x formation to ensure the tape doesn’t fall off. If you just do horizontal tape on the end of your finger, it will likely come off as you climb.

Regarding the direction of the tape, ensure that you start at the outer end of your finger and work your wat toward the knuckle/palm to ensure you don’t interrupt blood flow.

To ensure you are still getting blood flow to the end of your fingers, pinch the end of your finger – if it remains white for a few seconds, you may not be getting enough blood supply to the tip of your fingers and you should re-tape them.

To ensure you can still bend your fingers and have full motion while climbing, bend your fingers slightly while you are taping.

If possible, avoid putting tape where your finger actually bends.

Make sure that your skin is clean before you start taping. Otherwise, the tape won’t stick to your skin. The best thing to do is to wash your hands in water and soap but if you don’t have access to soap, you can spray your hands down with water from your water bottle.

If the split is vertical/going down, then make sure that you are taping horizontal. If the split is horizontal, apply a vertical piece of tape before taping around in a horizontal motion.

Tips for taping flappers

If you have a flapper and you tape directly on that flapper, it’s likely that the tape will stick to that flapper and when you take the tape off, it will tear the flapper off.

Your skin is the best source of protection against that underneath layer while it’s healing so it’s ideal to maintain your flapper for improved recovery time.

You can use a little piece of tape upside down against the skin as a barrier from the sticky tape to the flapper. If you do this, however, make sure that you tape around the area really well so it doesn’t move and cause friction or rub against the flapper. Friction may make the flapper get worse.

What tape should you use for climbing?

When it comes to taping for skin, I used to use medical cloth tape from black diamond tape, which was easy to tear pieces off at a certain thickness but I found that I always needed the same thickness and it always required me tearing the tape so I switched to Matilious tape, which is fun colors and the exact thickness I need for my fingers when it comes to my tape job. 

When it comes to taping for tendon support, the Black Diamond athletic tape, also known as medical tape, tends to be the best option. It is softer and more flexible so you can still make movements with your fingers. Additionally, it is meant to make contact with your skin so the glue is a little bit better for that as well.

Can You Use Electrical Tape or Duct Tape For Rock Climbing?

When it comes to patching holes in your rope bag, duct tape can be a great option. However, when it comes to taping your fingers for skincare or tendon injuries, athletic tape is a better option. Electrical tape tends to flex too much and is very slippery, making it unusable for skin or tendons. Duct tape tends to be too rough on your skin and too slippery on the climbing holds.

Do climbers use tape for crack climbing?

If you go on a climbing trip to Indian Creek or just watch some of the best climbing documentaries, you’ll notice that they have either tape all over the back of their hands or something else called a crack glove. This crack glove, either premade or made with medical tape is meant specifically for skin protection. The wide strips of medical cloth tape become a barrier between the climber’s skin and the rough rock so that they can squish their entire hand into a crack in the rock face without injuring their skin.