UKC

I was at a climbing wall recently with a beginner. We had a good roped session then went on the bouldering wall, which was no more than 3m high. She fell onto the matting and sustained a serious fracture to her ankle, bone sticking out etc, hideous. While we waited for the ambulance a number of people suggested this type of injury was not uncommon, and I understood them to mean at this particular venue. I've never come across it before and wondered how common it is at walls in general?

In reply to baynes:

I've seen a similar accident resulting in a broken ankle. I suspect that what can happen is that a combination of thick, squashy crash mats and grippy shoes can result in the foot of a falling climber being locked in position if they land on their feet. If the climber's body then twists, a sprained or broken ankle can result.

In reply to baynes: i've broken my arm from falling on climbing mats,, so ankles do not surprise me....

In reply to C O Jones:

That seems to be current thinking and that rational has been mentioned to me by a few climbers recently.

The facts are that serious lower limb injuries are much more common on bouldering walls than many people generally think.

In reply to baynes:

Apparently* bones break much easier when twisted than when simply bent/over-loaded. Feet 'trapped' in deep padding might make the twisting more common?

*ie. I have read somewhere, take this with a pinch of salt

I hope her leg heals well.
jk

In reply to baynes: i've seen someone break an ankle (not so badly by the sounds of it) in a similar scenario. i believe it's the most common injury at walls. paul b on here bust up his leg really badly falling off at the works i believe.

In reply to baynes: My understanding is that breaks are more common not because of the foot "sticking" to the mat, but because when the foot is constrained in a tight shoe, it is unable to spread, move and absorb energy the way it should.

Cheers,

FT.

In reply to Fume Troll: Thanks all. She's had a plate put in and will be off her feet for a week, then hobbling in a plaster, but should make a full recovery. Not good for her job waiting on tables. We did of course sign the usual disclaimers etc so I'm sure the wall won't be liable but I have now heard of similar injuries at the venue. The cushioning below the wall was covered in a stiffish carpet which I haven't seen before, not as squishy as some... sort of gut feeling that it could have made the impact worse.

In reply to baynes:

Which wall was it out of interest? I'm not assuming any blame here or anything - more sheer curiosity on my part.

Plus my local wall has recently put carpet over their crash mats... wondering whether i need to start being more careful and graceful with my landings!

In reply to baynes: I sprayned my ankle very badly walking down some steps at my local climbing wall!!!!! No joke. I thought I had broken it at first because it did make a loud snap sound and I felt really nauseous. My whole foot was black within a couple of days and it bothered me for at least 6 months. I am always cautious of bouldering too high (yes I'm a pussy) because ankles get fuc*ed really easily.

In reply to welsh kim: mailed you, if you're in wales no worries cos it's not there but i don't suppose they'd call you welsh kim there would they? Boyo?
Obviously don't want to name the wall here, i'm sure they're not to blame and the last hing i want to do it get into the blame claim business, climbing doesn't need it, but I need to explain as much as poss to her family s they are abroad and will be worried.

In reply to baynes:
>..but I need to explain as much as poss to her family s

Too late, they'll never let you see her again

In reply to baynes:
There was a similar accident at Manchester wall last year. On that occasion the girl slipped on a vertical section of the bouldering wall and caught her foot on a hold as she fell, snapping the ankle cleanly then making it an open fracture when she landed on the matting.
People fall off bouldering walls all the time and are fine but sometimes you just get unlucky.

In reply to baynes:

Yep, I fell about eight foot leeding and broke my ankle very bad to the point were i could of lost my foot. its not how high you fall but how bad you land.

cheers

In reply to baynes: I broke my ankle once stepping off the kerb! Still musn't grumble eh!

In reply to Cliff Hanger:

My housemate at uni broke her ankle stepping off a curb. Seems it's not a s uncommon as I thought!

jk

In reply to jkarran: I reckon we should form a pressure group and get kerbs banned. Its just not safe!

In reply to baynes:

I know you've made the point that you're not interested in blame culture and compensation but the 'disclaimers' that you sign are not worth the paper they're printed on in cases of negligence.

IF the wall was at fault with bad matting ( and i'm not saying they are in any way ) they are responsible. You are not disclaiming their responsibility to Health + safety.

PS you're not interested in compo - but is she ?
If she is then look at the incident again and don't automatically assume they weren't at fault. I agree climbing does not need people sueing for nothing but neither does it need bad practice at walls.

In reply to baynes: To give your friend some sort of time scale for her recovery, I had two screws put into my broken ankle at the end of January. I was in plaster for 6 weeks total, and hobbling without a crutch 3 weeks afterwards. I climbed my first route on Sunday.

I hope she makes a speedy recovery, and doesnt get too frustrated sitting round at home

In reply to baynes: The way a climber falls contributes just as much to causing the break as to the type of surface that is fallen on. the fall might have been a lot worse if no matting was there.

In reply to baynes:

this happened to me, rally bad compound ankle fracture from 2m fall onto bouldering mat, knee locked, foot sunk into mat, big torque from body falling. I was very lucky not to have my leg amputated

This was on an old 4 inch thick type gym mat. The importance of good thick mats at bouldering walls should not be underestimated

In reply to baynes: I've hurt myself doing this same thing..altho not so nasty. Many crash mats are made up of multiple mats pushed together with a unified cover - doesnt' mean that the mat will become seemless. I came off the wall and came down on the split in the mat - which caused me to turn my ankle. So no big nasty break, but probably a minor break. I'm a pretty nervy boulderer because of it...

In reply to baynes:

Personally I think carpet over matting is a really bad idea. It drastically reduces the absorption of the matting. The initial impact is much harder falling onto them.
There's a wall I sometimes climb at that has this under some small bouldering sections and I don't even like controlled jumping from the top, never mind falling. It's only 3 m.

In reply to baynes: I dislocated my knee in a similar fashion at a bouldering wall. I had an uncontrolled fall onto deep and fairly soft matting which held my foot in place as my body rotated and out popped my knee. Now I had dislocated my knee before so there was a weakness there but I still think that the matting was partly to blame.

There is a school of thought that says you should have a high density foam at the top of the mat with lower density foam underneith so that the load is spread over a bigger distance with less sinking into the mat but with the lower density foam underneith still absorbing the impact, hense the design of boldering mats. This may be why they've put carpet over the top of the mats to try and mimic this effect although I don't think I've ever heard of that being done before. I have seen some of those very thin and hard gym mats put down on top of very soft mats though which did seem to make a possitive improvement.