UKC

Hi All

So I seem to have injured what I believe to be the A2 pulley in my 'ring' finger. Its not giving me a massive amount of pain but its enough to stop me climbing anywhere near my limit. Ironically, its the easier holds (ie. jugs) that hurt it the most as they rest on the tender part of my finger. Has anyone gone though this and continued using their fingerboard on the un-affected fingers. I climb mid 7's and used to training my front 2 but wasn't sure if doing an entire hang session just on front 2 was a good idea...any thoughts

Much appreciated

Sean

In reply to SeanSmith:

I'd get it diagnosed correctly first. Assuming it is a pulley injury then your going to need to rest it a bit. I wouldn't do any more fingerboard training while it's injured, you're in danger of overloading another finger, but you knew that already I think.

In reply to SeanSmith:

If you continue to strength train while that finger recovers then that part of your grip is going to be weaker when you "fully" start back (obvious I know ). But when I used to climb and train reasonably hard I would sometimes suck it up and do stuff like you suggest. However, I found something often worked better, rest. If you are climbing moderately hard and training often you probably have a bunch of minor "micro injuries" (I bet the ring finger started out as a niggle you paid no attention to). A couple of weeks off if the current injury is a small one may put you in a better place all round and reset all that wear and tear some. My feeling was after these little breaks I could actually pull a little harder. Go do some stretching

It might be worth getting it looked at by a professional and properly diagnosed. They might think an anti inflammatory will help etc. but it would be better to get it checked out if it isn't something you feel will fix itself soon by having had a similar injury before. Depending on where you are, relevant professional advice might be difficult to get in a timeframe that might help("Dr., it hurts when I lift myself up on bits of wood","Avoid lifting yourself up on bits of wood. Next!"). A sports physio if you can afford it might be money well spent. There might be one that has a relationship with the wall you train at. Even one who has little experience of climbers but say works a lot with racquet sports might be good.

I haven't climbed hard for a few years so am unsure on the current advice. When I first started training seriously everyone used to tape injuries like this, I am pretty sure that is now considered "not a great idea unless you really must" or at best "not that useful" (?)

In reply to SeanSmith:

If it's an A2 (and you should be sure first) you should find that after any initial inflammation has died down you can climb pulling pretty hard as long as you drag everything - a foot or two of tape around the knuckle itself to render you physically unable to bend it would be my suggestion. I found dragging edges caused me less pain than climbing on jugs for the reasons you describe.

At a high level, if it hurts it's probably worth avoiding. Pain is a useful indicator of things you can and can't do if you listen carefully.

In reply to AJM:
"If it's an A2 (and you should be sure first) you should find that after any initial inflammation has died down you can climb pulling pretty hard as long as you drag everything - a foot or two of tape around the knuckle itself to render you physically unable to bend it would be my suggestion. I found dragging edges caused me less pain than climbing on jugs for the reasons you describe."

+1

I have an A2 pulley tear at the moment, and I am doing exactly described above. Just taping the finger so that it cannot be bent and the open handing everything. It works very well and i can climb without pain.

With an open hand grip I can climb, fingerboard, and foot on campus without issue. As I understand it - this is because the A2 pulley is only engaged when the fingers are bent / crimped.

In reply to SeanSmith:

Thanks for the quick replies all! it's my first real injury so I appreciate all the advice given. Its right that doing open hand stuff doesn't really hurt so I'll maybe give it a week or two of rest and then splint my finger in some way to restrict the movement.

In reply to SeanSmith:

Hi Sean,

I've a very similar problem at the minute. I actually find I can get away with most trad climbing, especially cracks etc, although I'm staying away from crimpy stuff. But I'm not going to the wall, sport climbing or bouldering at the moment. Getting a bit restless so I've signed up for a halfmarathon to give some inspiration to go running and not get any chubbier. Some good advice here: http://www.nicros.com/training/articles/finger-tendon-pulley-injury/

Good luck,
D.

In reply to SeanSmith:

I would definitely avoid the fingerboard. Putting strain on one finger puts strain on the surrounding fingers as well (try to bend your middle finger without bending your ring finger). There's a lot of training you can do that's not as hard on your fingers (general strength training, balance, flexibility, technique, lead head, crack climbing, cardio endurance, etc., etc.) I suggest you set goals in those areas and give all your fingers a bit of a rest while ring finger recovers, then build them all back up to strength together.

This may be helpful too:
http://cruxcrush.com/2013/10/24/climber-problems-the-a2-pulley-strain/

Source: I've popped both my ring fingers. Took about 9 months to get back to full finger strength each time.

LoRo