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So another 2 weeks rest? Bored already!

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 doug5_10 20 Feb 2013
Another finger injury thread, sorry!

Bit of background, had a niggling tweaky finger for a month or so of not pushing it and openhanded climbing, I decided it was a bit more than a tweak. Self diagnosed a strain or small tear of my A2 pulley on middle finger of my LH (don't think its anything more serious, didn't even notice doing it, no "popping", pain or swelling.) Only symptoms were tenderness in the base of the finger, esp. after climbing, and a bit painful to massage. Only noticed it a few times on the wall, mainly from just feeling weak because of not crimping!

So decided to take 2 weeks off doing a bit of Dave McLeod's ice bucket and some self styled hot/cold treatment (cling-filmed ice cube alternated with the bottom of a mug of tea, works a treat!) Ventured back to the wall tonight with no pain or tenderness, still climbing taped and openhanded, and now feels exactly the same as before!

Anything for it apart from another 2 weeks of boredom and buckets of water?
tron 20 Feb 2013
In reply to doug5_10: I made the same mistake, leave it longer, and then ease back in, believe me, it'll heal quicker. You can tape your finger so that it can't bend, and then only climb slabs if you have to climb.
 RKernan 20 Feb 2013
In reply to doug5_10:
I'm in exactly the same boat with left ring finger A2. First climbing session again on saturday, kept it easy but did notice a wee bit of pain afterward. There's no pain in the finger now though so I'm tentatively going to tape the b'jaysus out of it and openhand my way to victory tonight. In theory.
 James Malloch 20 Feb 2013
In reply to doug5_10: When I did mine (same finger) I ended up taking nearly 2 months off climbing as whenever I went back it was still a bit sore. However I definitely heard a pop and then did it again the next day so it might have been a worse injury.

I got some Therapy Putty and spent a lot of time squeezing that - I'd definitely reccommend it! I didn't bother with hot/cold though.

I'd say rest it until it's better or it'll end up taking even longer to recover.
OP doug5_10 20 Feb 2013
In reply to doug5_10:
Thought as much, hand back in the cold water bucket whilst sifting through the jobsites it is then . . . .
mike1979 20 Feb 2013
In reply to doug5_10: I've had several minor "finger issues" and have never found a total break helpful. I find they heal better if I continue climbing at a lower level and use cold water treatment as recommended by Dave MaCleod and tape until it's healed. I use it as a chance to work on more finger-friendly aspects of climbing: technique, endurance, trad climbing. I avoid bouldering, fingerboarding, hard redpoints.

Hope the finger gets well soon.
Mike
 Brendan 20 Feb 2013
In reply to mike1979:

I agree. Easy climbing (or even hard climbing but with no crimping/tweeky holds) seems to work best for me, with minor finger injuries at least.

The most difficult thing, I've found, is using self-control when the finger starts feeling better. It's really tempting to just go all-out again straight away and re-injure it.
 steveriley 21 Feb 2013
As an old fart with damaged fingers, I'd advise a degree of caution. You want them fingers to last a while.
 GrahamGiles 24 Feb 2013
In reply to doug5_10: I too had a very similar injury from constantly pushing boundaries at the local boulder gym, i took a week off straight away then focused on lead climbing as i had a lead climbing trip to Spain coming up.

I started off really easy 6a/+ max for a week mainly practicing silent feet and technique (I was roughly a 7a climber back then) followed by 6b the next week carefully selecting routes that weren't crimpy but it didn't seem to be getting much better till i went on holiday, climbing little and often every day for a week an a half must have been great physio for it and by the end of the holiday i only had a tiny discomfort while massaging it hard. I think this mixed with the cold hot treatment and a bit of tape is a winner, but this is just my opinion of course.

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