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Post by cirquebound on May 20, 2016 7:36:10 GMT -7
Sadly, we have all probably have had some sort of finger injury. Most recently, I had a figure injury. I took time off started to rehab it, gained strength and begun hangboarding with progress and no "real" pain. Back to climbing, and my injury hurts while crimping. For example was on a 13- crimp line and felt the finger ache while climbing. I monitored it and then cooled off on some mellower (less crimpy lines) and the next day it felt better. How do you monitor how much is enough?? Its been almost 3 months and it must have healed, but still aches? WTF?! HELP  |
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Post by James_E on May 20, 2016 8:23:55 GMT -7
Pulley injuries take FOREVER to completely heal. I've been going through the same thing and it's gotten back to 90% but the last 10% is taking ages. Best advice I can give for the final stretch is try not to crimp as much as humanly possible, take a rest day after any day when you have pain, and do whatever works for you to keep the inflammation down (icing or contrast baths or whatever). Run the finger through some range of motion exercises on your rest days. Accept that this will be your life from here on out and it will be over before you know it. Patience is key.
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Post by iclimb2improve on May 20, 2016 8:24:28 GMT -7
I'm in a similar boat, so I'll give you my opinion on the matter (minor pulley injury in middle finger back in March).
As you may know, tendons take a long time to fully heal, so it's unsurprising when you say your finger twinges when you put it under extreme stress. Eric Horst's injury articles reccomend staying away from tweaky holds for several months, and I believe it took Mark Anderson 6 months to start setting PRs again for his A2 pulley injury. It needs to be mentioned that both authors stress not to push the injured finger too hard during the final stages of recovery, since it's easy to reinjure yourself when your finger is starting to appear symptomless.
So in my current experience, if it feels wrong, stop immediately and don't do it. That's your body giving you a warning sign that it has still not completely recovered. It's far too easy to push yourself too hard on a route too fast and wind up with an injury of the same magnitude or worse with an even longer recovery time. Continuing to rehab your finger in a controlled setting, like hangboarding, is going to be your safest bet when it comes to returning to full force in climbing (once you start setting PRs, you've probably completely recovered). If that doesn't work for you, you also have the option of slowly downsizing holds until the specific grip or hold does not bother you anymore.
I hope this post helped and that some more experience climbers could chime in and give you a better overview on the whole recovery process. Best of luck!
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Post by MarkAnderson on May 20, 2016 9:47:45 GMT -7
As you get older, it becomes as much about "managing" injuries as it is about healing/curing them. Any area where you've had a tear or strain is going to be susceptible to tendonitis or even arthritis for the rest of your life. So while you may get back to full strength (and you should strive for that), you will never REALLY be fully healed to the point that you can pretend like it never happened. It's always something you're going to want to pay attention to and regulate by adjusting the intensity and duration of activity to maximize sustainability.
It sounds like you are dealing with some lingering inflammation. You don't need to avoid crimps, but don't go out of your way to find them. When you do find yourself crimping, make sure you warm up thoroughly, and limit the reps to a volume you can recover from (in time for the next climbing session). This will probably take some trial and error, but over time the inflammation should generally subside.
When I had my really bad A2 strain in 2012, it was a solid year before I was really back to 100% (in terms of strength), but I still had periodic tendonitis in the injured area for another year or so. I'm not sure when that subsided, but it's totally gone for now (and I can't recall it being an issue any time in the recent past/1-2 years?).
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Post by aikibujin on May 21, 2016 9:30:49 GMT -7
As you get older, it becomes as much about "managing" injuries as it is about healing/curing them. Any area where you've had a tear or strain is going to be susceptible to tendonitis or even arthritis for the rest of your life. That's depressing! Is this what's in store for me when I become as "old" as you are?  |
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Post by cirquebound on May 23, 2016 6:17:46 GMT -7
Thanks for all the input!!! I agree, these things are going to take a lot of time to return to true form again. Its hard to know when you are transferring back into climbing hard again and a pain returns and wondering whether that is too much? ITS GREAT TO HEAR THAT YOU THINK IT IS INFLAMMATION! That is something I can deal with and take care of. I have had multiple finger injuries over the last decade (probably from too much stoke for multiple months) lesson learned only in the recent years that your project will still be there next week....   The plan for moving forward is to keep on my trajectory! |
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Post by MarkAnderson on May 23, 2016 12:27:13 GMT -7
ITS GREAT TO HEAR THAT YOU THINK IT IS INFLAMMATION! Ya, but what do I know? |
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Post by cirquebound on May 24, 2016 6:04:15 GMT -7
Hahaha, true true Well I will say that I did ice my hand after work and the cracking and popping subsided ... sooo Mark (+1) Going to ice again this morning and a hangboard session on my lunch hour. Yahoo |
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