UKC

So after going at it pretty hard this summer, I ended up with a lot of pain in my left ring finger. Facing facts, I realised I probably had a partial tear to the A2 pulley. Recovery process went like this:

Took 3 weeks off entirely

Then did 4 weeks of ARC training, i.e. continuous traversing with big holds only, and heavy taping of the affected finger.

I'm now at the stage where the originally injured finger doesn't give me pain - but here's the thing...

...I went to do some bouldering tonight, and now OTHER fingers are hurting during climbing. Enough to mean I had to back off routes in the 6B+-6C range, and not all of them especially tweaky. My left index finger (at the base), and also my right index finger (base) and right middle finger (middle) were all giving my grief. (They felt a lot like how things started out when the original finger began getting injured and I ignored it and made it worse.)

This is pretty damn frustrating. I don't understand how OTHER fingers can be injured, when they should have been benefiting from the recovery time as well? (If they had micro tears etc, shouldn't those have healed as the main injured finger healed?).

But am I worrying needlessly? Is it perhaps normal to get some finger soreness after a layoff? (Actually, I did do some bouldering a couple of weeks back around the same grades, and didn't get any pain then!) Also, I've been ill the last week or so, so maybe that it making things worse?

Any help, experience, advice, most welcome. I'm just dreading that this means taking like 6 weeks off...

In reply to LuapRagas:

6 weeks... keep going. Sorry
If it's a partial tear it's gonna be 3 months min

In reply to LuapRagas:

Also, if it's a full year... stop
If it's partial, let the swelling go down then start again slowly but regularly

In reply to ashtond6:

But here's the thing - the original problem finger doesn't hurt anymore. (I climb with it taped rigid, so that I can't crimp, and that seems to have done the trick). The problem now is OTHER fingers, that all seemed fine before....

In reply to LuapRagas:

I'd say you missed out a key step in your recovery plan:

1) Go to the doctor/a physio and get a professional opinion on the severity of your injury.

I'm presuming from your post that you didn't do this, and self diagnosed instead. Whilst I'm sure most could have a good guess at a finger injury (and fingers are actually quite simple in this regard) nothing is as good as getting a proper scan.

/preaching

In reply to ianstevens:

Yeah, you're not wrong. The problem is, my experience with GPs is that unless they are sports specialists (which hardly any of them are), they are absolutely useless with sports injuries. And climbing is so niche, I guessed that all they would do is say "take time off". Given that there is no functional impairment for everyday use, I can't see them referring me to a specialist. Given the prohibitive costs, private treatment is not an option for me.

URGH.

In reply to LuapRagas:

As someone else has said finger injuries like that take a long time to heal. I did one of mine back in June or July. If I press it hard now there is still very mild soreness, although I only notice it on certain holds which put pressure on it. This isn't the first time it's happened to me and 3 months plus seems like the time it takes to get back to almost painfree climbing on routes at your limit.

In reply to LuapRagas:

How often are you in the wall and how much does that cost?
Couple of weeks away from the wall would cover the cost of a private physio assessment and a starter rehab plan I'd have thought. No help to you but my local private recommended physio is £38 for initial 40 min appointment and £35 for follow ups. Was money well spent in my case

You should be able to get GP referral to physio, I wouldn't hold your breath for one though, mine for first NHS one post hip screws being fitted was 7 weeks after the surgery and it wasn't even mentioned for a hernia op recovery.

Good luck
Mark

In reply to LuapRagas:

Fair point on this part - sports injuries don't really fall within a GP's remit in the modern day NHS from what I can tell.

Given that there is no functional impairment for everyday use, I can't see them referring me to a specialist. Given the prohibitive costs, private treatment is not an option for me.

Now this is where (so I've been told...) you can be a little sneaky. Do you use a computer for work? If you are part of the large proportion of people who do, I'm sure that you will use a keyboard and hence need a fully functioning set of fingers. If you couldn't use one properly, then maybe that could be enough to get you a scan of some sort? As MarkAstley has said, an appointment and rehab plan with/from a physio may be cheaper than you suspect.

I appreciate the blocks to getting such injuries fixed (or even checked) however. I broke my arm a few years ago, which lead to reduced rotational mobility and strength on undercut sytle holds (esepcially the sort under bulges/volumes/roofs that you pull outwards on). NHS weren't interested that I couldn't climb as well, just that I had a decent range of movement (~80% rings a bell). FWIW, I still can't pull as hard as I used to in specific positions on that arm.

In reply to LuapRagas:

There's a good article all about pain, using a finger injury as an example. Well worth reading.

https://theclimbingdoctor.com/clarifying-the-role-of-pain-in-injuries/

In reply to stp:


That was a really helpful piece, thanks! Made me think that the low-level pain in the other fingers is probably me trying to go too hard after the layoff. Need to ease back into things, it seems... just routes and very controlled hangboard (with counterweight to reduce strain) and no bouldering it is, then...