Complete Guide to Tape Your Hands

Contents show

Why do people tape their hands?

Why would you?

What type should you use when you have to tape your hands?

How should you apply tape to your hands?

These are all questions you may have been searching for answers to. With this complete guide about taping your hands, you no longer have to worry as the mystery is about to be solved.

Benefits of Taping The Hand

When you hear the word “tape,” what comes to your mind?

Is it the black nylon tape that we use on wires and books?

If so, you are on a different wavelength than us here. Let us quickly bring you in.

Tape, in this case, refers to those we use on the skin; our hands, arms, legs, and trunks. We apply different types of tape to our skin, most of which serve different purposes.

Before we look into the type of tape we can use on our hands, let’s talk about why we should even use it in the first place.

One of those reasons is the prevention of injury. This is for people with higher risks of getting injuries or when you are about to engage in an activity requiring you to use your hands a lot, like volleyball and climbing.

You can tape three parts on your hand; wrist, palm, and fingers. Sometimes, you may have to tape all three. A professional climber or someone who climbs as a hobby can probably relate to this. A lot of finger strength is needed for rock climbing, and tape can help to provide the needed support to the musculoskeletal structure.

For finger taping like this, some tapes are designed specifically for that purpose. Our Hampton Adams 8-pack of white BJJ finger tape is a perfect example, especially when you look at the width.

As a climber, you may be sticking your fingers, and sometimes your entire hand, into different cracks and holes in a mountain. If you leave your hand unprotected, you are prone to have many cuts by the time you are done.

For crack climbers with higher chances of encountering such cracks, you may have to wrap the tape around your hands like a glove. Taping your hands will help to prevent your skin from tearing or cracking.

Volleyballers may use tape as a preventive measure, as well. The fingers of volleyballers also go through a lot of stress from throwing and catching repeatedly. As a result, they also tape their fingernails and fingertips.

Sports Tape for Fingers can also be applied to the hand after injury. Even without being involved in sporting activities, you can easily sprain a wrist or break a finger. Of course, the tape will not be enough to reseal your skin or regrow your bones, but it can help to speed up the healing process.

Furthermore, it can be used as a form of physical therapy to manage certain conditions. Conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, and arthritis can be managed with the application of tape.

Types of Tape That Can Be Used On The Hand

There are generally two types of tape when it comes to the skin they are;

Athletic Tape

This is a pressure-sensitive tape and, as the name suggests, is used to keep pressure on a particular spot. The non-elastic type is preferred to the elastic one because it seems stronger.

Hampton Adams put a lot of thought into producing our athletic tape. We have made it comfortable, strong, firm, durable, and above all, effective. We also produced a special type of tape for the fingers- Hampton Adams 8-pack of white BJJ finger tape- to make things easier.

Volleyballers and climbers can use this tape to protect their fingers during their respective sporting activities.

Kinesiology Tape

This tape was designed to be elastic, which explains why it operates differently. Kinesiology tape functions through the process of decompression. This process reduces musculoskeletal pain and also speeds up recovery.

The Hampton Adams Kinesiology Athletic Tape has all you need in a kinesiology tape; it is elastic, flexible, sticky, environmental-friendly, and made of medical-grade materials. It can be used in the management of some of the conditions mentioned above.

When Not to Tape The Hand

Do not apply it to your hand when it is bleeding. Applying tape, whatever the kind, to an open wound is unhygienic and ineffective. Ensure the wound has been well tended and clean before applying the tape.

If, after taping a part of your hand- wrist or finger- you find it going numb or getting worse, it may be time to remove that tape. No one said it has to get worse before it gets better. If this happens, it is advisable to see a professional.

Applying Tape to The Hand

Before Applying Tape to Any Part of The Hand

If you are applying the tape to your palm or wrist, wash and dry it thoroughly. If there is a lot of hair in this area, you may want to get rid of it before washing.

The same can be done for the fingers, but individually so that you don’t miss any spots.

Lastly, get everything you need which is just tape.

The Wrist

Several techniques can be used to tape the wrist. One of these is the Circular Wrist Taping technique. This technique is often used after an injury to the wrist; it could be a fracture or a strain.

The presence of tape on your wrist helps to increase your sense of proprioception. This way, you are kept in check and can actively restrict your range of motion.

Ultimately, this helps to prevent further injury. The strength, texture, and adhesion of our tape are exactly what you need for this.

The figure-of-eight wrist taping technique is what it sounds like. Just as figure eight looks like the embodiment of support and balance, this technique supports the wrist and helps to hold protective padding or pre-wrap in place.

The Fingers

There are many ways through which you can apply tape to the fingers. Of these, buddy taping is one of the most popular. This technique, as you may have guessed, involves two fingers.

Usually, it is one injured finger and another uninjured- one finger supporting the other. You wrap an injured (usually sprained) finger together with an uninjured one beside it.

In picking the supporting finger, if there are two fingers around the injured one, you can try taping it to both to see which is more comfortable. For example, you can tape an injured middle finger to either the index or ring finger.

You start wrapping them firmly from the base towards the tip. Wrap it over as many times as you want until you feel it is really firm. Firmness here should not completely restrict movement because the three fingers left may be many, but not enough.

If it is too tight, it can restrict blood flow and cause numbness. These events cannot help recovery; they would rather deter it.

This buddy taping technique is also popular as a preventive measure among climbers. It is a way of providing structural support to their fingers while climbing. In this case, of course, allowing adequate mobility is of importance.

Another of these finger taping techniques is the Ring technique.

This involves wrapping the tape around your finger in a ring shape. In this case, however, you start from the tip to the base. Apply as much pressure as you can without restricting blood flow while wrapping.

There is another technique that is used specifically for the trigger finger in which the affected finger catches into your palm whenever you try to grip. Taping the finger reduces the number of times it catches.

This technique requires three strips of tape; two on the front and back, running from the fingertip to the elbow, and the last around the palm.

To reduce swelling, another technique is employed. This technique helps fluid- blood or lymph- to flow properly through the process of decompression. In this case, like the ring technique, you start from top to bottom.

Start with adequate pressure and reduce it as you go down.

The H-taping technique is used to treat pulley injuries, injuries that occur around the joints in the finger. It is wrapped around the finger while excluding the knuckles to form a bridge. This provides structural support to the injured area.

You should visit the Hampton Adams page for further information about hand-tapping and hand-taping products.