Training for Climbing, 2nd: The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Performance (How To Climb Series)

above statements about the ineffectiveness or even harmful effects of taping are flawed. First, the statement about taping “restricting blood and weakening the tendon” might be true if tape was worn all day and night. It’s hard to imagine that taping for a few hours while training or climbing could have such a negative effect; after all, athletes in a wide range of sports tape everything from feet and ankles to wrists and fingers while in training or competing. Why would climbers’ intermittent use of supportive taping be uniquely dangerous?
    What about the recent study that found no difference in A2 pulley strength between taped and untaped fingers? Well, that study was done using frozen cadaveric hands that were rigidly mounted in a specialized jig to maintain a crimp-grip position. One has to wonder if the warm hands of a living climber might exhibit different properties with regard to tendon strength and might even use a subtly different grip than our “climbing cadaver.”
    Treating A2 Pulley Injury
     
    1. Immediately cease climbing and any other activity that requires forceful flexion of the injured finger. Consult a doctor if there is noticeable bowstringing on the flexor tendon.
    2. Use ice and consume NSAID medications only if the injury produces palpable or visible swelling. Cease use of ice and NSAIDs as soon as swelling diminishes—further use will slow healing!
    3. In especially painful cases, consider buddy taping or splinting the injured finger to limit use for a few days following injury.
    4. As pain decreases—and only when all swelling is gone—begin light daily finger activity such as finger flexions, squeezing a rubber doughnut, mild stretching, and massage. This light exercise is important to ensure proper healing.
    5. Use a heating pad for ten to fifteen minutes, three times a day, to increase blood flow and accelerate healing. Smokers should consider breaking the habit, since smoking has been shown to slow healing of tendons and ligaments.
    6. Use the therapy described in steps 4 and 5 for at least two to four weeks before beginning a gradual return to climbing. Use prophylactic taping every time you climb, and spend the first week or two climbing relatively easy routes with big holds and good footholds.
    7. Return to maximal climbing if easy climbing yields no pain. Continue taping and avoid tweaky holds for several months, since complete tendon healing can take a hundred days or more. Climb smart!
     
     
    Interestingly, a Swiss researcher has apparently answered this question for us (Schweizer 2000). He built a device to measure tendon and tendon pulley forces in vivo—that is, live climbers’ hands—and determined the force of bowstringing as well as the force applied to the pulley tape. Two slightly different taping methods were used—over the A2 pulley at the base of the finger, and over the distal end of proximal phalanx near the PIP joint—as he tested sixteen fingers in the typical crimp-grip position. This study revealed that taping over the A2 pulley decreased bowstringing by 2.8 percent and absorbed 11 percent of the force, while taping just below the PIP joint (just beyond the A2 pulley) decreased bowstringing by 22 percent and absorbed 12 percent of total force. The obvious conclusion is that circumferential taping does provide a small reduction in total force on the tendon pulley system, though the author does not feel it would be enough to prevent a pulley rupture.
    Prophylactic Taping Methods
     

     
    The A2 ring is the more common method of prophylactic finger taping. Using the widest piece of tape possible without interfering with PIP flexion (anywhere from 0.5 to 1.0 inch, depending on the length of your fingers), wrap three firm turns of tape around the base of the finger, directly supporting the A2 pulley. Apply the tape as tightly as possible without restricting blood flow. This may take a bit of experimentation, but remember that loose taping serves no function other than protecting the skin. Retape your fingers every few hours to maintain the necessary tightness throughout a full day of climbing.
     
     

     
    The Swiss method (as used in the Swiss study mentioned below) involves firm circumferential taping at the distal end of the proximal phalanx—that is, just above the A2 pulley and immediately below the PIP joint. Use a narrower strip of tape, approximately 0.33 inch wide, and wrap as tightly and as close to the PIP joint as possible without