UKC

I bow-stringed a tendon in my hand/finger on Monday. Just looking for best advice if anyones got any?

In reply to wobblydave: go see a specialist physio, or at least one with experience in climbing/hand injuries

In reply to wobblydave:

Rest.

Go see a physio.

Don't climb for months.

Sorry

I had a very minor A2 tear last year - no bowstringing visible at all, that took me out of climbing for 13 weeks but it has healed up fine. Previously Ive had similar injuries and gone back to climbing sooner and just had them fail again.

If yours is proper bow stringed ie the A2 pully is completely snapped then you are at the least looking for 6 months away from climbing and intensive physio. You will possibly also need surgery.

Go to your GP and get yourself referred to a hand specialist right away - being seen quickly is vital leaving it this long is already not good as you will be building up inappropriate scar tissue which will need painful work to break down again later.

If you can afford to go private then do. Some though not all sports physios may be able to help, but if the damage is severe it needs to be assessed by a specialist first, then physio later.

I know this is not the answer you want to hear, but thats the way it goes... get it fixed properly now and miss this seasons climbing or risk never having it heal correctly and give up climbing at harder grades for good.

Meant to say...

The "training for climbing" book by Eric Horst ( http://tinyurl.com/yvnzyz ) has a good section on hand and other common climbing injuries, speeding recovery and avoiding them in the first place. Helped me lots when I had my last tendon twang.

In reply to chrisw:

Yep this is good advice. Don't learn the hard way like me, I did everything completely the opposite to what he described. Basically my finger is screwed and has been for 13 months. My gp screwed me over and I didn't have the motivation or advice to go see a specialist even tho I have private health!

Yours, a very discruntled injured climber

In reply to wobblydave:
Everybody here who's telling you to get specialist advice and be prepared to have to rest for a long time is offering you very sound advice. I didn't do these things and as a result I missed an awful lot of climbing and I'm still suffering 14 years later.
If you have to pay: do it.
If you have to miss some or all of this season: do it.
Believe me it's much, much better than missing several seasons in a row.

Good luck,
Mark.

In reply to wobblydave: http://www.davemacleod.com/articles.htm
scroll down to the bottom and watch the video it may help.

In reply to jrjamus: Thanks for the link, it looks like a good treatment and I have started it already. Thanks to everyone else for the good advice. I seriously hope that it doesn't ruin my whole year, but will be visiting the doctor next week to find out how bad it is. Thanks again