Dave here. I want to apologize for being out of stock for six weeks and want to let you know that it won’t happen again.

There are a lot of fingers to protect, and during the past six weeks I have let down every single one of those fingers.

Never again.

All the best,

Dave

P.S. – But seriously, I won’t let it happen again.

People who train in jiu jitsu, MMA, wrestling, rock climbing, basketball and other sports regularly are almost certain to have problems with their finger joints at some point in time. Although you can take time off to let them heal, many of us aggravate the problems in our fingers because we would rather keep training. Taping your fingers will provide you with support for recovery as you continue to train. Let’s take an in-depth in two methods of how to tape your fingers most effectively.

This method of taping fingers allows the practitioner to provide support to their finger while maintaining a good degree of flexibility to continue training. This method is far superior to just wrapping your finger in tape in one spot at a time because it is more durable to the rigors of training and less likely to fall off.

Your fingers are controlled by a set of pulleys as shown in the image above. Finger tape should be applied multiple times (2-4) around the lower pulley and crossed diagonally to the upper finger pulley where the tape will wrap around the upper pulley multiple times. After wrapping the upper pulley, finish the “X” design by crossing the tape back down and wrap the bottom pulley a few more times. You can wrap the finger more numerous times to provide a longer lasting support to your finger joints. Additionally, you can also apply more tension to increase the amount of support to your finger but too much tension can cut the circulation of blood off in your fingers.

I highly recommend taping your fingers in the X method if your joints are aching and throbbing but not severely sprained.

This way of taping your fingers is best for severely sprained fingers or injured toes.

Buddy Finger Taping applies tape that hinders the flexibility of your fingers but provides a great deal of support to prevent further injury from occurring. Again, you’re going to want to tape right over the pulleys in your fingers but this time you’re going to apply the tape so that your injured finger is also taped to the adjacent finger. This insures that your finger will not bend during practice which greatly reduces the stress on your fingers. You can use finger tape to just wrap around both fingers or if you face the problem with the buddy tape falling off, you can use the X Taping method to bind both of your fingers together to achieve a more durable but same effect.

If you’re going to train with injured fingers there are a number of ways to help the recovery of your fingers. 1. Apply a good finger tape to your fingers using one of the finger taping methods above to provide them with support. Check out Tape Armor finger tape (www.tapeyourfingers.com). It is designed and cut for athletes’ fingers. 2. If you’re a BJJ practitioner, try not to death grip your opponent’s gi. If they are trying to break the grip, let it go, and just re-establish the grip when they come back. 3. Adjust your game to be less reliant on the grips while your fingers are injured. Spider guard is a position that will greatly increase the stress on your fingers. If your finger joints are swollen or suffering from chronic aching, try to work your butterfly guard or other styles of guards that rely less on the grip until your fingers are feeling better. 4. Utilize the pistol grip to save your fingers during training rather than the standard four-finger grip. 5. Ibuprofen can reduce temporary swelling but it will not help your fingers’ recovery in the long run.

I hope this article was useful and helpful in maintaining the health and longevity of your fingers. Feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment on this blog if you have any questions.

Dave

Hi Friend,

If you’ve made it this far, I’m sure you’re dying to know more about me :).

My name is Dave Kim. I am a passionate practitioner of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I work as an IT consultant. I work a lot of spider guard while practicing BJJ and due to the nature of this style of guard, combined with 2-3 classes daily, my fingers began to swell and ache throughout the day. It wasn’t until I boarded a plane to Brazil that I realized how severe my problem was. I fell asleep during the ascent only to wake up mid-flight to severely swollen knuckles because of the change in altitude. It was painful and difficult to completely close my fist. It was not a pleasant surprise and from that day on I decided I needed to take better care of my fingers or face the consequences in my later years when age will not be on my side.

I went to a doctor to get my fingers diagnosed to ensure there wasn’t something else going on. I found the closest doctor to my house using my health insurance’s doctor search function and off I went. Miss doctor turned out to be one of the cutest doctors I’ve ever seen but that’s besides the point. She ran some blood tests on me to make sure it wasn’t some form of arthritis and asked me to take some time off from “wrestling and UFC.”

To be honest, I didn’t take any time off from my BJJ training but I did make a few changes that made all the difference. I began taping my fingers and would let go if I saw people trying to break my grips. I also began working on other styles of guard that relied less on the grips so I could provide some temporary relief on my fingers. My fingers have returned to a perfect state today although it took a couple months to get there. A few adjustments in my every day training combined with the support of tape has allowed me to do this while taking no time off from training.

During this recovery phase, I did a lot of research into the types of medical tape and was frustrated with the fact that no one had designed a medical tape specifically for our fingers. It turns out that it wasn’t just BJJ practitioners who were having trouble with their fingers but also Judo athletes, rock climbers, wrestlers, basketball players, and the list goes on and on.

I decided to create a medical tape that was specifically designed and cut for athletes’ fingers and toes to help people who are coping with finger injuries. All injuries take time to recover from but using the proper equipment to provide support and training smart will allow you to overcome all your injuries and come back stronger. Train smart and train safe but above all, stay hungry and stay motivated, for everything else will come with time.

All injuries can be conquered in time.

Dave

Taping your fingers in a proper manner will ensure that the tape does not slip off during practice due to sweat, provides you with the right amount of support, and allows for some flexibility to bend your fingers. Taping fingers can be good for athletes such as rock climbers, jiu jitsu, BJJ, wrestling, judo, basketball, or volleyball where sprained fingers are common and you need support with the flexibility to bend your fingers during practice to grip an arm, a ball, or a lapel. Sports tape can be used to support injured fingers but can also be used to prevent injuries as well.

The trick is to use a good quality athletic tape and use an “X” design. The X design is best because it will not fall off and does not hinder the athlete from bending their fingers. Check out some of the videos below that provide instruction on how to tape your fingers properly.

I hope this information will provide you with what you need to know to help recovery of your poor fingers. Our mission is to keep you in the game doing what you love best.