UKC

I've got a few niggling injuries, all on my left side.

I have been indoors 2 or 3 times a week, using the rock rings a little (for core) and doing a reasonable amount outside too. It's been a bit of a step up training wise so this is what's lead to the injuries. What I'm trying to work out is why all on the left side?

I have a slight stiffness from the shoulder blades area, that came first, then slightly sore a2 on my little and ring fingers and now a slight ache from my upper arm - outside just below the shoulder.

Any ideas? Did the first injury lead to the others, maybe pulling harder to compensate? Just weaker on my left - I am but not considerably? Poor foot work on LH side?

Be good to hear any opinions

In reply to jezb1:
Are you right handed?

I reckon it's not unlikely that they're linked with each other, and that you might have been using your left shoulder subtly differently, but some kind of specialist would need to watch you I guess, or you'd need to be filmed perhaps.

Strangely, I'm left handed and all of my broken bones from accidents have been on my right hand side.

In reply to jezb1:
One possible explanation (offered to me by a medical doctor) is that a right-handed person tends to be stronger on the right-hand side, and v.v. But rock climbing throws moves at one at random - there is obviously no bias to suit the climber. The left-side is subjected to the same stresses and strains as the right but is not so able to cope.

In reply to jezb1:

This has been bugging me for years. My personal list of injuries past and present includes: 15 stitches in the top of my head, six below the eye, partial hearing in the ear due to Menieres, Golfer's elbow, 10 stitches in thigh, sore knee, broken (and now arthritic) calcaneum - all on the left side. I thought it was just coincidence but I'm now starting to concoct conspiracy theories to explain it!

In reply to jezb1:

I am right handed, so maybe my left is fighting harder...

To balance it out though the two breakages I've had have both been on the right...

In reply to jezb1:
FWIW I dislocated my right knee in 1998 but it is now my left that has niggling issues... Our bodies are strange like that.

I have also just upped the amount of training I doing and I am slightly paranoid about getting injured. As such I am making a real effort on stretching, core strength and antagonists. I can't say that my climbing is getting better but (touch wood) I am feeling good and I am doing more and more press-ups, dips etc..

Rock rings are great but there are lower impact ways (with respected to your shoulders) of working core strength. To me it sounds like you might just be doing too much high intensity stuff when it comes to your fingers and shoulders. If that is the case then it makes sense that your weaker side will get injured first.

Certainly, the main take away point I got from doing my FUNdamentals 3, was that most climbers do too much high intensity training and not enough endurance.

Anyway, best wishes and please update the thread if you manage to come to a firm conclusion or manage to resolve matters.

In reply to jezb1:

Do you work in an office? Could be related to posture - leaning forward onto you left elbow whilst you use the mouse with your right hand, for example. It's worth changing your posture as much as possible, getting up to move around, even a few stretches throughout the day.

In reply to tim carruthers:

Me too! All my visits to A&E have been for injuries to my left side. The only time I broke a bone on my right arm, I received far worse injuries on my left side at the same time. A couple of these incidents were caused by being right handed, but most of them it was just luck. Something strange is going on!

In reply to jezb1:

I would say it's unlikely the shoulder and finger injuries are related but the shoulder blade and upper arm pain/stiffness may well be.

I can't see why one's footwork would be better on one side than the other (unless there was a lower body injury) so think this is unlikely as a cause.

In reply to mark20:


Nah, mountaineering instructor.

The cause is almost certainley the step up in training, just trying decipher if they are all linked to each other being that they're all on one side...

I'm going to make a more concerted effort to warm up and stretch a bit more effectively. They're all niggles at the moment rather than stop you climbing injuries.

In reply to jezb1:

I find that when I'm climbing alot, especially if carrying heavy bags or lots of pads then my shoulders and neck can start to feel stiff. Yoga two or three times a week seems to help, and pressups / tricep dips

In reply to jezb1:
Try getting a good sports massage, removing any knots you may have built in that area or somewhere else that is causing you to compensate there. I had trouble with my right lower back and it was a tight left thigh muscle causing it, certainly solved my problems. If you climb a lot, have a physical job or just never had a massage it may work.
Regarding arm strength, I'm right handed and strongest that side but doing weights my left has more stamina.

In reply to jezb1:

I had a progressive left side problem with firstly shoulder, then upper arm, forearm etc. I put it down to a hard slam while abseiling

I put up with it for too long before visiting a sports physio who diagnosed the problem (if I remember correctly C5 / C6 area).

Regular sports massage eventually sorted it.

In reply to jezb1:

I didn't read the whole thread as I didn't have time so it might have been mentioned already, but I had a tendonitis flareup in my right elbow massively, and only a little in my left, which made no sense as climbing obviously both are subjected to the same stress pretty much. I worked out it was from using the computer mouse with my right hand for hours at a time over a period of years.

My advise is look at your day-to-day life with a fresh pair of eyes and see if you have any habits or routines, home or work related where you are using one hand or side of your body more than the other.