UKC

Not really sure where this thread belongs. 

After Crackfest last weekend I've had considerable pain in my right hand. General pain and hurts to move my hand/fingers, including typing, writing, holding a mouse or even fill up with petrol... so quite disruptive for doing my job/life. Not talking bruising - more like something's unhappy inside my hand. Annoyingly I'm pretty sure this was after repeatedly trying to jam in the crack systems used in the crack school, where we were practising more intensively (and on what were all off-widths for my non-sausage fingers), not from climbing the comp problems. 

I've never had this problem before on rock - though I don't tend to lead sustained vertical crack so don't normally jam so hard and so for long. However, the crack school was supposed to be designed for beginners to crack, which I'm not (far from good, mind).

A friend who is a much harder crack climber has had the same thing - hand pain and hand basically closing up. 

Any advice? It's only been five days so far so I don't think it's worth a medical professional yet but obviously it's very annoying not being able to properly use my hand (I can't exactly avoid typing at work...)

I'll ibuprofen in the meantime, but resting my hand isn't really an option. 

Cheers all. 

That's poop! Could be... just a strain... or a tendon or nerve damage... or..?

Even of it's tricky, try to rest as much as possible, ice it regularly and go see a medical professional - even of it's only been a week. A physio may be more helpful than a GP, as the latter will probably just check for a pulse and then send you home. Don't do anything that makes it really hurt.

Thanks. Yeah, I'm wondering if it's one of those. I wondered if this was normal but doesn't feel like it should be. It's def not bruising, more like something's been... pulled? Trapped?? My understanding is very basic - I have successfully avoided most climbing injuries for many years by being too weak to cause them. 

I can't avoid using it (even typing this on my phone hurts) but might try a physio if I can get to one some time. Cheers. 

Yea, sounds unpleasant to say the least. 

As above, could be any one of many things damaged in different ways. Internal bruising, chipped bone (my partner managed that one, but that was jamming on a nasty rock christal - even got xrayed at the time but nothing really showed)

An expert, (physio) may or may not be able to identify what's wrong (GP even less so) depending on how you can describe it and the feedback you can give them.

Only thing I'd say is, rest, and try and be very aware of the what, where, when and how of what's going on. That's so that you can identify, if it's improving any with time, and exactly what hurts and how, so that if it's not easing off with rest you can give the best info to anyone looking at it.

Good luck, hope it gets better soon 

Is there any specific point that’s most tender to press on your hand? Could then indicate a specific injury. Did the pain come on suddenly or more gradual in the hours/days after the session? 
 

More generalised pain could indicate lumbrical or interossei strains (intrinsic hand muscles responsible for various movements of the MCP (knuckle) joints and palm). I don’t think there’s any scientific evidence per se but I imagine you could get a sort of DOMS type pain after intense hand jamming just as you’d get in forearms the days after intense climbing or calves / quads after running etc. 

Jamming is very intensive on the intrinsic hand muscles and there are 20 of them in the palm alone, so wouldn’t be surprised if you got some soreness! Whilst I’ve not had that specifically, I’ve definitely had pain and swelling purely from the friction/trauma of skin on the back of my hands repeatedly bunching up in handjams, another possible cause. Probably will go down with some time, rest and icing etc but wouldn’t hurt to seek further help if symptoms persist despite that!

Thanks all. It didn't hurt at the time but from the following day (or maybe that evening - i can't remember) and I'm getting general ache all the time with darts of more pain, generally around the knuckle area rather than wrists, but feels like it's throbbing more generally around my hand now, and it's uncomfortable to grasp things or to type with thumb on my phone like I'm doing now. 

I don't think i can easily take time off work to get to a physio for several days so intermediate remedies obv helpful. If anything I'd say it's coming and going and feels worse today than it did yesterday. 

Feels kind of good if I rest the back of my hand against my lap with my fingers out straight, pushing down on it with my other hand, or hold my hand with my other hand and apply pressure to support it around the base of my fingers. 

Goddamnit I am not going to Crackfest again..!!

Well, not untill you've recovered at least.

On the flipside, if you've dedded all the nerve ends in your hands you'll be able to jamb the most gnarly granite no bother. 😁

Ah ok, yeah does sound a bit like hand DOMS, you must’ve been going at it ha! Maybe some capsulitis of the knuckle joints too thrown in for good measure as they get very stressed during jamming too. Hope it heals up, keep us posted, would be interesting to know how you get on. 

Cheers all. Feet first or thrutching only for tonight's session then! 

Damn. I've never suffered more than cuts and bruising, that cleared up after a week or so. Rubbing / massaging helps sometimes, rubbing hard enough that there is some pain but not too much (difficult to explain, but you have to be the judge). Like you say, give it a week or so for any minor stuff to heal and if it's still bad, it might be something that needs looking at.