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Post by doublediamond100 on Dec 3, 2014 15:26:37 GMT -7
I strained my A2 pulley in my right index finger and flexor tendon in my right middle finger a few weeks ago. Once I came to my senses, I took two weeks off and tried to do some easy climbing along with theraputty to rehab my fingers. While my fingers didn't seem badly injured before I took time off (they just weren't getting better), now that I've rested them there is significantly more pain in both fingers after what seemed like pretty light activity which caused no pain at the time. I've since taken another week or so off and reduced the intensity of non-climbing finger exercises. While the pain has improved it's still worse than before the time off. Even more interesting is the fact that the pain seems to be moving around to the PIP joint and wrist. It's starting to seem like I was better off not resting! I've been doing a lot of reading, but I'm really stumped here. Is the pain due to a lack of using the joints or would I be doing more damage than good by pressing on?
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Post by MarkAnderson on Dec 4, 2014 10:34:53 GMT -7
Ya, that's a conundrum. I've had the same experience, and that's why I'm not a big fan of complete rest for injury recovery. I also don't like "easy clikmbing" because its really hard to control or track the resistance (and therefore hard to progress in a controlled fashion). My preferred approach is to hangboard with extra low resistance, and perhaps an extra rest day thrown in here and there as needed. This is discussed at length in Chapter 9 I believe.
Do you find the Theraputty helps? I would be cautious with any sort of rehab the requires isotonic contractions with resistance where a pulley is concerned.
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Post by doublediamond100 on Dec 4, 2014 11:28:08 GMT -7
The easy climbing was more of a sanity saving measure than rehab. My intention was to climb well below my typical grade just to get moving a little and hang out with some friends I don't usually get to see outside of the gym setting. Unfortunately I don't have access to the hangboard setup required to rehab in the way you recommend in the book (...yet, working on it). Additionally, having never done a real, structured hangboard workout protocol before I'm worried about being able to find the right starting point. Are there any alternative exercises you could recommend? In the reading I've been doing I've found some articles in what seem like reputable medical journals (medicine isn't my field) that show eccentric contraction can be extremely helpful in promoting tendon healing, they generally deal with tendinosis though. I tried eccentric weighted finger curls with extremely light weight and it seemed to help a lot with the pain so I think I might continue with that until I'm able to get access to better equipment.
I agree that complete rest is rarely the answer, I found that out the hard way when I tore a pectoral muscle at the end of last winter. Resting did nothing other than allow the swelling to go down, and it wasn't until I started a very gentle weight lifting program that I was able to get the muscle back up to full strength. However, I have trouble determining when the initial healing has proceeded far enough that I can begin rehabbing the injury.
I got the theraputty because I had seen it recommended in a number of other places and seemed like a reasonable way to exercise my fingers with progressive resistance. Unfortunately while it does seem to help warm up the finger it doesn't seem to do much as far as rehabilitation goes.
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Post by ernirulez on Dec 5, 2014 2:24:33 GMT -7
In the reading I've been doing I've found some articles in what seem like reputable medical journals (medicine isn't my field) that show eccentric contraction can be extremely helpful in promoting tendon healing, they generally deal with tendinosis though. I tried eccentric weighted finger curls with extremely light weight and it seemed to help a lot with the pain so I think I might continue with that until I'm able to get access to better equipment. Hi, I also had my ginger injured and the way you decribe it, it looks quite similar. I think now that my finger is recovered, however if I push too hard, I notice a bit of pain the next day (it´s more kind of discomfort than pain), but I wouldn´t like it to go further. Could you please describe how you do those eccentric contraction with the fingers? Thank you  PS: I also agree that complete rest does not help recovery. |
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Post by doublediamond100 on Dec 10, 2014 12:22:27 GMT -7
Hey sorry for the delay in responding... this page describes weighted finger curls about half way down. To turn that into an eccentric exercise I simply assist with my other hand to bring the weight up and then slowly lower the weight with my injured finger. |
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Post by Charlie S on Dec 22, 2014 19:56:07 GMT -7
I started training (for a number of reasons), partially because I kept messing up the A2 pulleys in my ring finger on both hands, one month after the other. I took a month off of climbing for each injury. I also probably stopped early enough before any real damage happened.
The best climbing for a finger injury is miles and miles of 2" handcracks at Indian Creek. Which also coincides with my ARC seasons. Not a coincidence.
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