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Post by elevate on May 16, 2017 14:58:34 GMT -7
My hands are always cold unless I am doing some sort of physical activity. I don't know how this all works, but I'm thinking that this might reduce blood flow to the fingers and slow recovery.
I have a history of ring finger A2 tweaks, though it has always been from undisciplined too-long periods of limit bouldering (ie: months of just bouldering). I always back off when I feel them coming on. Currently my fingers are feeling totally fine, but as I begin training I am pretty nervous that I will start to feel them develop. I have been climbing for 8 years but never trained.
Anyways, is this an issue and should I be trying to keep them warmer somehow?
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Post by Chris W on May 17, 2017 4:25:20 GMT -7
It's possible to have very normal blood flow and still have "cold" hands. Unless you smoke, do drugs, are very old or have a few very specific medical conditions, odds are blood flow isn't a limiting factor. If you haven't trained before, you may want to try the Rock Prodigy method of hangboarding. You could strengthen your fingers very safely and help prevent further injuries.
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Post by jonfrisby on May 17, 2017 7:13:56 GMT -7
I have diabetes, and one of my climber-nurse friends thinks it (poor blood flow being a symptom of diabetes) adversely affects skin recovery. I don't think lack of blood flow would be as big a factor in tendon recovery, and I've been fine hangboarding up to 3x/week
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Post by elevate on May 17, 2017 8:24:17 GMT -7
Thanks for the info. Chris W I just got my copy of the book so I'm following the RP method to a T. I have three more weeks of ARCing to do before I start hangboarding though.
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Post by MarkAnderson on May 18, 2017 20:39:54 GMT -7
I could be crazy, but I'm pretty sure all the ARCing I did in my mid-20's vastly improved the cold-tolerance of my hands. I grew up in a temperate climate (western Oregon), and struggled with cold throughout my youth and early 20s. My hands would numb out while climbing all the time. At some point after I started training I noticed that my hands didn't get cold as much anymore, and eventually it seemed like I was the last one to complain about cold rock. These days I'm frequently exposed to sub-zero temperatures, I routinely climb in below-freezing temps, and despite that I almost never get numb. So my point is, I think training could be really good for your hands, and might even help alleviate your chronic cold hands.
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