Hand pain - heel of hand under 5th finger

[Mike]

I’m experiencing a type of hand pain that I haven’t seen addressed elsewhere in the climbing injury prevention literature. The muscle that may be involved is the hypothenar; additionally, I suspect that the 5th (pinky) finger tendinous sheath/tendons are involved from the base of the 5th finger to just above the wrist joint on the heel. I am four workouts into a hangboard session, averaging about one workout per week as detailed in the RCTM. I’ve had to take things slowly since the intensity is higher than I’m used to: I’ve been hangboarding off and on for years, but this is the first time I’ve used strict timing (a la Hangtimer) and a pulley setup. The pain is fairly mild (certainly not debilitating), but sharp.

Recently, I’ve started upping my stretching. Though I haven’t started icing yet, I would bet that this is a good protocol and will probably do so after stretching (which I’m doing throughout the day and immediately following workouts). I’m also planning to drop the closed crimping from my hangboard workouts. I’m wondering if you have any advice and whether you’ve heard of or experienced this sort of hand pain before.

Thanks in advance! – Mike

[Jack Ziegler]

I surmise that I have had the same injury for the past 7 years. I feel the pain most on under cling crimps and when I rotate my right palm up and when I rotate my hand such that the pinky goes toward the forearm. I've been seeing a physical therapist but that don't have too great advice. I've found increasing flexibly of the wrist and mobilizing the wrist joints while stretching helpful. The most helpful thing I've found is stretching while my wrist and forearm is wrapped very tight in a compressive elastic band. Look up the voodoo band from the supple leopard book.


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