UKC

My son has been climbing on and off for a number of years but has got really into it in the last year. He's 19 and has been bouldering 2 or 3 times per week.

He is hypermobile, or at least his fingers and wrists bend in ways that most people's don't!

In the last week he's had sore joints in his fingers. This may just be because he's doing a lot more climbing than he ever has, and needs to go gently, but it's led me to wonder what pulling hard on small holds might mean for peple with hypermobile joints.

Anyone have experience of this? Anything he should consider now that he's climbing a lot more?

I am hypermobile and I never have finger issues, in fact my fingers are pretty nails strong and I overrely on them a lot!

I would however strongly recommend that he takes the time to strengthen his legs as hypermobile knees are in my experience injury risks for a boulderer

Consulting a sports physio maybe a good idea. A good sports physio can prescribe your son preventative exercises.

I second this. I’m a climbing physio who is also hyper mobile! I wish I had known how to better protect my joints when I started. Improving/maintaining strength and proprioception are important for all the joints for people with hyper mobility. Particularly shoulders, fingers, wrists, knees ankles. 

I have an Ehlers-Danlos diagnosis but not particularly hypermobile. I can train up to a point but have to be careful otherwise joints get inflamed. You'll know when you've gone too far, when you've gone too far. My condition means inflammations typically only last 48h and generally controlled by meds. Back to the same boulder grade in my late 50s as in my 30s. Good luck!

Many thanks for you thoughs and comments. I will share a link to this with my son so he can read. I will also consult my physio for advice.

Anyone else with direct experience pleae feel free to add it!

My wife is hyper mobile. If I understand it correctly, supporting ligaments are weak, so the muscles need to do more of the support and stabilisation than in "normal" people. I'm not sure what the actual or potential implications of that would be for climbing, but maybe just keep that in mind when considering (any) activities and any training.

This podcast: https://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/paul-houghoughi  with Paul Houghoughi briefly covers hypermobility in climbers. There is a topic list with times at the bottom of the page to find the segment. 

I have hypermobile type EDS. It's interesting because I've found climbing has contributed to improving my proprioception and joint stability, but I do sometimes get finger pain on the same side where I've had a previous shoulder subluxation. All the way down the chain from that shoulder, through to that elbow, wrist and fingers, I have very slightly less functional strength and stability, but it's not the thing that's limiting my grade, and as I say, climbing has generally helped over the course of 12 months. 

I find those finger symptoms are often triggered by very crimpy routes, so if I feel the early warning signs of that pain I switch to an open handed grip for the rest of the session and have a break for a couple of days. I also use things like therapy putty when I'm at my desk working. Slowly, things have improved.

I also do different things from most people to warm up. I avoid static stretching and focus on activation exercises for problem areas and just getting the joints moving about before going for it.