UKC

Sorry for another injury post, but I just can't finger out what is wrong with my finger! My left hand middle finger can't bend all the way down to touch the bottom of my finger, where it connects to the palm of my hand, until I'm warmed up or have moved it about and tried it a few times, then I can do it no problem. When I wake up it is particularly bad. There is no pain whilst climbing. The thing is, I had an avulsion fracture in the same finger a few months ago, I took the time off prescribed (1 month) and didn't do anything hard for two weeks after that. It is still larger that my other fingers but I think it'll be that's just going to be that way. I've been climbing as hard as ever, although my left hand feels weaker than my right (although to be honest it's probably in my head). If anyone has any idea of what's going on with it and what to do about it I would greatly appreciate it if they told me! Thanks!

In reply to Jack McKechnie:

Hi,

I had a similar problem. I couldn't bend my finger and could not go any where the pad of my hands. In fact, my middle PIP joint was incredibly swollen.

For me it was a serious tear of the collateral ligament (it wasn't serious at first but then I ignored it and made it considerably worse and had to take 6 months off).

Get it seen by a professional - my guess is that it's either a collateral ligament tear or general join inflammation caused my overtraining and not enough quality rest.

There are many possible things that may have contributed to this injury.

1) You're not taking enough rest. Your body only gets stronger when you're resting.

2) You're crimping too much.

3) A few sudden slips especially on fingery sidepulls or finger cracks may have shockloaded the ligament.

I'd do the following:

1) Get seen by a professional. Only they can truly confirm your injury.
2) Get yourself Dave Macleod's injury book. He really does explain all the possibilities very well and on a couple of occasions I have found it quite easy to guess what the problem is.
3) Climb on jugs for a few weeks (believe me, I wish I did that rather than having to end up taking 6 months off) and see how it develops.
4) If you're climbing as hard as ever, you're not really allowing the injury to heal and likely to be causing microdamage to your soft tissue at a faster rate than before.

Good luck!

In reply to zmv:

ZMV provides sound advice.

If its any consolation, go climbing outside more, the holds vary greatly and dont target one particular grip or finger position unlike indoor climbing.

In addition, try the 30min ice water bath treatment twice a day for a couple of days then switch to regular contrast bathing.
Use a series of small weights ranging from 1.25-5kg, try hanging weight on a sling off the finger in half crimp position. Any pain then back off, but if the pain is really mild or gone then increase the load slowly until you need to back off again.

If you do this twice a week you can gauge your recovery, especially if you run a comparison against the same healthy finger on the other hand.

In reply to zmv:

Thanks for the reply. I'll take your advice and stop climbing hard for a few weeks and see how it goes from there, the help is greatly appreciated!

In reply to alx:

Thanks man, I'll do that and see how it is from there onwards!