UKC

I'm a terminal sufferer from finger tweaks of all sorts. At the moment I've an A1 pulley strain that is bad (by my reckoning) but I don't know how it compares on the scale. Basically people talk about pain from pulley injuries, and that when you're pain free it's ok to start climbing again. Does this refer to pain when massaging/touching the injury site? Or is it actual pain while carrying out the activity. I find with pulley strains I have never had any pain while climbing/finger boarding etc, but afterwards the pulley is tender and painful to touch or massage.

By my reckoning having a tender, but not painful to climb on finger puts me at a grade 1 strain on this scale: http://www.climbinginjuries.com/fingers-pulleys/ However, I've been at this stage for a fair while, climbing on jugs and openhanding and it ain't getting better, in fact worse if anything.

Any advice/opinions. I'm particularly interested in the pain issue, whether pulleys usually hurt while climbing if they're injured, or if I'm being soft. The recent, otherwise excellent, article on here about finger injuries was vague about this too.

In reply to Schnell:

Mine hurt when climbing. Too much, too soon.

In reply to Schnell:

I would say pain with activity rather than palpation. Some people are just more sensitive to palpation and this falls within normal limits. Swollen and tender is something completely different tho. HOWEVER, A1 pulley strain is rare. If the pain is around your MCP joints you may want to get checked out for other causes, you may have systemic inflammation or synovitis. Go and see you doctor run some blood tests and perhaps look at US or MRI.

In reply to Schnell:

I did one in just after xmas. Climbing properly again now, but I can still feel it on palpation, but I've stopped taping it and avoiding small holds. Seems fine to me.

In reply to Schnell:

Proper warm ups and stretching will kill this in the long run. I ruptured the A2 on both my ring fingers before realising this.