UKC

Right, bear with me for a second... Following a finger injury i stopped crimping and half crimping until i was fully recovered. In that time i used a fingerboard quite often to stay fit, obviously open handing everything.

When the finger felt better i started back slowly, open handing everything, until i got back to a level that i need to crimp again, only for me to discover that i can't crimp anymore!

The problem seems to be that the last joint lost all its flexibility and won't bend backwards at all, so when trying to crimp, no matter how big the hold is, the fingertip stays at an angle and the forces in the joint causes that familiar 'hello injury' pain.

That loss of joint flexibility also means that i can't reach with the thumb to form a full crimp unless i increase the angle, which makes it even more painful.

So, has anybody had the same happen to them? Any advice/ideas on how to 'fix' it?

I tried deadhanging on crimps, but can't load the fingers without feeling that the tendon will give. Tried stretching them by hand, but applying a force high enough to try to bend them back causes pain before they even bend!

P.S. Anyone that tells you that training open-handed will make you stronger in crimps/half crimps is talking shit.

In reply to Mr Lopez:

I've managed to damage my A2,3 & 4 pullys on one of my fingers, crimping. It's been really painful but the first thing that I've noticed is that I can still use the finger if I use an open handed crimp.

I've been basically crimping on most of the holds I use all the time anyway. There currently isn't a muscle structure in my arms for me to be very strong at open-handed crimping but it is something I can work on and develop. As my finger is healing I'll progressivly look at getting my crimping muscles stronger, but in the mean time I'll stick with opening handing. At the end of the day closed crimping puts a massive amount of tension and stress on your ligament and pullys in the finger, so if you've gained an injury crimping maybe you should just change your technique to avoid it.

If your finger is still hurting them maybe you're not ready to be using it or you've actually done more damage to the finger than you originally thought. The best bit of advice I can really offer is the go to Dave Macleods blog and read up on finger injuries.

Good luck to you though, I know how useless you feel when climbing with a painful finger.

In reply to mlmatt:

Maybe you misunderstood... The injury is now healed and i didn't get it crimping but pinching, and the problem is that i lost joint flexibility by (i reckon) the tendons shortening due to strengthening them without crimping in all the fingers, not just the injured.

The flexibility i'm talking about is the capability to do this http://library.thinkquest.org/13779/media/images/general/full/andy%20using%... and the pain i feel when trying to crimp is nothing to do with pulleys, but is the tendon being overstretched or the joint being put in a situation it doesn't like.

In reply to Mr Lopez:

My fingers are arthritic as f*ck. Can't make a fist. Could never get near the finger position in the photo (wouldn't want to, either). Can still crimp though.

God only knows what's happened to my tendons. I'm sure they've shortened. I get tweaks and 'little' injuries (tears?). After a couple of weeks easing off, they seem to mend.

I know that all of this is horribly unscientific but it seems as though I've intuitively learned to work around this problem. Hopefully it will come right for you too.

Mick

In reply to Mr Lopez:

Where specifically do you get pain whilst crimping? You say the tendon feels like it's going to give but where specifically?

Loss of flexibility is quite common in a joint (think about loss of flexibility in the hips if you stop stretching for a few weeks/months). It will be your ligaments that are restricting movement, they can be stretched but bear in mind that these ligaments in the fingers (volar and collateral) are one of the most prone to breaking in the human body.

Personally, I don't have anywhere near the the amount of flexibility in the PIP joint that is seen in your link and don't think I'd want it!

Lastly, there's not much difference between crimping and pinching something (depending on the size of the pinch). The only difference is the lack of the thumb over the index - the rest of the joints are generally at the same angle as when you are crimping.

I suggest you see a hand specialist if your worried.

In reply to Mick Ward:

Yes, those little 'tweaks and tears' is what i get if i crimp, and is what i'd like to sort out, as it doesn't seem like a matter purely of tendon strength. I'd have thought it'd be more to do with tendon elasticity if such a thing exists.

Like you, if i work crimpy moves one day, i'll have a faint niggling sharp pain in the joint for a week afterwards when pushing the fingertip.

I've never bent then as much as in the photo either, but they did go back enough to offer good support and relief the joint. Right now they won't go back at all.

Cheers

In reply to cha1n:

DIP joint inside and underside.


Yep, the injury i had was a suspected volar plate breakage.


Neither do i, it was a photo to illustrate clearly what i meant.


Unless very small, pinches are more of an sloper/open-handed grip.