The effect of rigid tape on wrist postures during tree planting

Taping has been suggested to reduce the incidence of tendinopathy in tree planters. However, the ability of taping to reduce wrist postures during planting has not yet been formally evaluated. The primary aim was to test the effect of rigid taping on wrist postures during tree planting tasks. Eleven tree planters planted up to 50 trees in three conditions: no-tape (NT), tape-on-the-dorsum-of-the-hand (T1) and tape-on-the-thumb (T2) in a randomised cross-over, within-participant, repeat-measures design. Electrogoniometers (EG) recorded continuous wrist postures. Digital video recordings were used to segment EG traces of each planting cycle (one planted tree) into 4 kinematically distinct Phases. The tree and shovel wrist were analysed separately. Tree-wrist peak ulnar deviation and frequency of shovel-wrist awkward frontal plane postures were significantly reduced in the T2 condition. Taping may be effective at reducing non-neutral postures and should be researched further to determine its effectiveness in reducing tree planting injuries.Practitioner summary: The effect of rigid taping on wrist postures during tree planting has not yet been formally evaluated. A randomised cross-over, within-participant, repeat measures design was used to evaluate the effect of rigid taping on wrist postures during planting. Thumb rigid taping appeared to reduce wrist range of motion during planting. KEY POINTSTaping of the thumb reduced peak ulnar deviation of the tree wrist and frequency of awkward frontal plane postures of the shovel wrist.While taping of the dorsum of the hand appeared to be more restrictive, it did not significantly reduce wrist movement; this is likely because only its effect on sagittal plane posture was assessed which had a higher variance.Upon application, tape appeared to restrict voluntary movement patterns, decreased voluntary grip force exertion and physically restrain wrist movement.Overall, rigid tape was found to be an acceptable intervention for the tree planting occupation, with financial costs and perceived effort identified as the primary barriers to acceptability.