UKC

Not sure how it came about, I think I must have injured it either at climbing or gymnastics but that was almost 3 months ago and while it got a lot better at some point, it then worsened again. I didn't stop completely but lately I stopped doing most things at gymnastics that would stress the wrist (e.g. handstands etc) and I also just do some easy bouldering without crimping or pinching etc.

The position of the pain: it radiates from the side of the wrist on the far side of the thumb and it's more of a numb feeling of 'something' being there rather than sharp pain (I only get sharper pain very occasionally when I load it). It feels like there is some inflammation there and that it could possible be something to do with the tendon. Oddly when I press with my other thumb I can't get a spot where it's particularly tender or painful and similarly, I don't seem to be reliably able to make it hurt by pinching etc. It doesn't always hurt while climbing (especially once I am warm) but I do feel a bit of weakness and also, it seems to hurt when I either pinch a hold and then bend my wrist while pinching or something when I do a very open crimp (i.e. when I load the fingertips while the fingers are almost straight/extended). It also hurts more when I pick my 1 y.o. son up, especially if I just put my fingers under his armpits instead of my whole palm.

Any ideas/suggestions/advice? Anyone had a similar experience?

While I've really cut back on both gymnastics and climbing I'm reluctant to stop completely as from past experience it doesn't always makes things better but at the same time I am mindful that it could be something that might turn into a more long-term problem if I'm not careful.

I haven't been to the doctor as it hasn't felt 'significant enough' and was getting better (also doubt any GP would know anything about that or even someone else without a scan) but now it's a bit more painful again (maybe I tried to do too much too soon) so thought I'd ask. Had a friend who's a physio have a quick look but she said it was hard to determine what it was without scans etc.

In reply to Simos:

Forgot to mention - the only thing that seems to be consistently triggering it is lifting a full kettle

In reply to Simos:

Have yet to read it, but Dave Mcleod's Make Or Break might contain some valuable insights.

In my case my right index finger was hurting when I pushed it to the right (hard to explain), but basically it could take a straight-on load, but any time that the finger was straightened and bent rightwards from the main knuckle , it would hurt - and sometimes that pain would persist. I was careful with it for a few weeks, but it didn't really seem to get any better - and it would hurt when pushed. Well eventually I read enough about injuries to learn that I should _not_ be letting it rest, but instead relentlessly giving it light stretching until just before the pain threshold is reached. I think the reason why this helps is that tendons/ligaments do not have any blood vessels going to them - they receive nutrition through diffusion. So increasing the blood flow temporarily and often throughout the day helps to heal these tissues quicker, as well as the gentle stretching making sure that any healing is able to withstand tension later on (so low-quality healing is gone quickly, rather than forming for a few days and then getting "tested" and failing - i.e. failing quicker so that less resources are wasted on a failure). The moment I started doing almost hourly work on the finger (mostly just doing resistance work with left hand providing resistance - I think I'm doing both concentric and eccentric loading patterns too), it improved rapidly. It's still not completely healed (about a week on from the new plan), but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Hope that helps.