UKC

I've injured my collateral ligament on my middle finger. This is a permanent injury annoyingly - I've been told it will get worse but never get better, and if I continue to climb on it then it will get worse quicker, eventually getting arthritis.

I wonder if anyone has had experience in working around this sort of injury, e.g. with some sort of brace (taping to the next one helps a bit, but it still stresses it so I can't really work with that), or maybe by taping it straight so that it cannot be used and I need to rely on other fingers?

I find it extremely difficult just to not use that one finger - they all move at once!

Any tips?

In reply to perrys:
As always first port of call is to see someone with a good reputation at treating climbing injuries, second get dave Mac injuries book and read it from cover to cover , third spend hours consulting Google doctor ( he / she is an expert) , forth beware of amateurs like me on Ukc .
I found this last week after re tweaking mine
http://bethrodden.com/2012/03/collateral-ligament-injuries/

In reply to perrys:
As mike123 says better not listen to us.

I've had it minor in couple of fingers for some 10 years. Until the OA worsened in the fingers I rarely taped. I did not like the splint taping (used only when really bad) and just used to tape individual fingers. Used to stretch fingers alot and to rub along the ligaments between climbs encouraging blood flow, and occasional chilling after a session if really sore. Oh and build up/warm up slowly. I found that regular climbing caused me less pain than infrequent climbing so carried on climbing adjusting how hard I pushed in sessions. Fortunately mine has not worsened with climbing (though OA has).

Now with worsening OA I tape the main fingers individually with the H method every time I climb, still warm up slowly, stretch fingers out straight often, and regularly (incl on days between sessions) use chilling in ice cold water to stimulate blood flow into the fingers.

Does it work? The tape maybe partly psychological but I think it does, and possibly reduces the torquing of the fingers. Otherwise all I can say I am still climbing at the same grades with no obvious worsening of the c ligaments. I don't crimp, or torque the fingers in any deliberate way though. That does limit what you climb. The worst acute pain I get is generally when it's unexpected like the rope catching the fingers sideways, and not by the actual climbing!

In reply to perrys:

Thanks both. I'm actually resigned to the fact that it's so badly damaged that I can't climb on that finger, so was mainly wondering if people had found ways to avoid using a finger (e.g. by taping it in a way that prevents me from bending it). I expect that I'd like to use the finger when outside for placing gear though, so that might not be the best solution.