UKC

as the title says anyone got any experience of supplements to aid finger tendon/ pulley recovery? 

Just done another pully on my ring finger and keen to sort it as quick as possible. Am ice bathing etc. But seem to be fairly susceptible to these injuries so just wondering if I’m lacking in anything making this likely,

i tend to eat atleast 5 fruit and veg a day and meat once a day, but often work nights which I know can be a factor

cheers

https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/105/1/136/4569849

Got this link from this Dave Macleod video; 

youtube.com/watch?v=gdNVnGCxPDE&

8 subjects - would like to see that power calculation..

Thanks for that. Funnily enough it was seeing that which made me wonder if anyone had actually tried it themselves and had any tips?  Though obviously Dave mc is normally spot on with this stuff. I was also struggling a little to work out exactly what supplement was commercially available that fitted his advice?

Dave was also saying in his latest Vlog about Glysine and Proline. Tempted to give those a go as my fingers feel pretty smashed at the moment

Home made chicken soup. Allegedly all the stuff that boils out the bones, cartlige etc.. is quite good at rebuilding our bodies. Could be an old wife's tale, in which case I recommend a pint of black sheep.. chill out feet up and give it time.

Have you tried other means of fixing it, like progressive and careful loading? That's the magic fix for me. Worth listening to the ester Smith interview on trainingbeta podcast  

I'm not dissing the supplement idea, but i tend to think that it's barking up the wrong tree. Tendons need loading stimulation in order to grow or repair. 

It appears to be vitamin C-enriched gelatin? In which case it is likely just the ascorbate improving cross-linking of collagen - vitamin C is essential for formation of cross-links between collagens

I agree. Precise careful treatment. Rice initially to minimise damage, potentially ibuprofen too. But then massage and good circulation to remove scar tissue.. problem is they don't get the same volume of blood flow that muscles do, so it's a long slow road to full recovery. 

They're the major components in collagen, so a collagen or gelatin (hydrolyzed collagen) supplement would do the trick.

(Asssuming you're not vegetarian, or a weirdo like me who gets migraines from collagen supplements. If you are, glycine powder is dirt-cheap and helps with sleep, aside from any tendon health bonuses.)

Not an old wife's tale -- the stuff you get out of the bones/cartilage is basically collagen, which is the same stuff we're talking about in supplement form.

And there are some indications that modern diets are short on this stuff because we now tend to just eat muscle meat and discard connective tissue (and all the connective-tissue-heavy cuts of meat that need slow cooking), so we don't get the amino acids from the latter.

Old-fashioned home-made stock made by boiling bones etc. for ages is the stuff that's now super-trendy as "bone broth", and it's because of the collagen.

None of it's a magic bullet or a substitute for proper treatment, progressive loading, etc., but if you're trying to heal or look after connective tissue, it seems like a decent ide a to make sure you're getting the nutritional building blocks for it.

Curiously, over the 35 years or so I've been traveling around Africa I've noticed that Africans don't hesitate to crunch up the bits of gristle attached to the ends of bones, something I've never wanted to do or seen Europeans doing. I'm guessing this habit helps to extract every last bit of nutrition from the animal. 

Silicon is important for collagen synthesis and soft tissue health/repair in general. Thankfully you don't need supplements as beer is an excellent source of bioavailable silicon. The Whillans approach to recovery has its merits... 

More than that though, I really think they just need to be loaded, with weights on a sling at first, then progressing to a fingerboard.  The protocol I followed based on physio advice was a very short period of rest/ice/mobility etc (2 weeks), then on with weighted finger lifts and then onto fingerboard by 4 weeks.  

Obviously anything to promote blood flow is good, but won't fix it without some fairly significant stimulation. 

A surgeon mate once said to me that once you've cut someone open and seen what scar tissue actually is, the idea that it can be removed my massage or increased blood flow becomes laughable.

I had calve/ankle injury yes, working it was part of the treatment. One foot whole body weight calf raises, rubber bands... 

I was told it's need as part of the above and below, but won't fix nothing on its own.

I wasn't meaning some gentle massage with a few pleasant oils. My calf massage involved a small hard rubber ball, under the calf on a hard floor, with the good leg pushing down on the bad leg. Then rolling left to right, opposite way to muscle fibres. It takes several sessions. Day after is sore, then day 2 it feels better than before, day 3 repeat. As you say it's not a bit of soft jelly that can be squeezed away.