Oddly enough, as I’ve been reading other climbing blogs about injuries and rehab, my left middle finger has been becoming more and more sore. It started about a week and a half ago. While I was bouldering at the gym, all of a sudden, every time I grabbed a jug with my left hand (and yes, there are plenty of jugs on the problems I’m doing) it felt like someone was hitting me with a hammer between my hand and my first knuckle on the palm side of my left middle finger. Trying to be smart, I took a week off. At the end of the week, it didn’t hurt nearly as bad, so I thought it time to get back to the gym.
My return to the gym was last night. This morning, it seems that moving air even hurts my finger. It probably didn’t help matters that I spent Friday and Saturday shoveling dirt and gravel on a home project, but still. When I started climbing yesterday, my finger wasn’t hurting too bad. Then, out of nowhere, I hopped on an overhanging, juggy V0 and the pain came back. It doesn’t feel like a tendon issue. When I pull on smaller holds there isn’t much pain at all. The pain is mostly tenderness between my hand and first knuckle. It really feels like a bruise.
I say all of this to ask, “How long, if at all, should I break from the climbing gym to rehab?” I thought a week was enough because it had quit hurting. My second question is “What does warming up look like for a gumby?” Reading Rock Climber Girl’s post on injuries made me realize that I don’t warm up properly, but then again, it doesn’t get much easier than V0. Should I do some top rope burns on a 5.6 or 5.7 to warm up for bouldering? I’ve tried dead hangs and pull ups on the finger board, but that just seems to start the pump process prematurely. All in all, it is really hard to warm up at any level. It is super hard when the problems you are climbing are so easy that they don’t seem to necessitate a warm up.
Let me know what you think.
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Update 2/27/09
I just read a post on AllClimbing.com that gives me an idea of what my injury might be — partial rupture to tendon pulley. I’m going to the gym in a bit and will try taping the base of my finger.
February 25th, 2009 - 12:59 pm
Will -
Here’s Dr. Sara (not a real doctor’s) warm up prescription for you…
Get on the treadmill, or, stationary bike, or, barring either of those, go for a good 15 minute walk before you even touch a hold. Just enough to get ya loosened up. A little heart rate increase is a good thing. Then, I’d steer clear of dead hangs or pull-ups on the finger board, entirely. I’d hold off on any of those sport-specific training methods until your fitness is back up where you want it to be.
Instead, if you’ve got healthy elbows, consider a long tie-in of climbing up and down on easy terrain (5.6/5.7 or even, off route — just make sure it’s holds that aren’t going to hurt your hands and that the wall angle isn’t too steep). A couple routes is good; a nice long burn at sub-pump is better. I sometimes do 30 minutes on one tie in. The downclimbing can be VERY hard on elbows, though, so be super careful and listen closely to your elbows. I think my last bad round of elbow tendinitis was triggered by those long tie-ins with lots of downclimbing.
An alternative, if your gym is set up for it, is to traverse to warm up. I prefer a traverse warmup over any other warmup, since it gives my shoulders a break from their typical pulling and works range of motion in a way that I don’t usually work it (this advice isn’t mine - it’s courtesy the great Brian Burdo). That way, you can choose holds appropriate to your fitness level and increase the difficulty as you get warmed up, but it saves your elbows (less downclimbing). I love traversing. I can stay on a traverse, usually, for a good long time… I feel like I get a better warmup traversing than any other way — and it’s less repetitive than just pull-pull-pull. Better full-body warm-up, I think.
Just be careful — sometimes gyms aren’t set up great for traversing, so if it’s slap a nasty sloper or grip an awful pinch before you’re warmed up, downclimb off and pass the hard section until you’re properly warmed up.
To your last point — when the problems you are climbing are “easy,” then warm up off route! You can make “easy” climbing easier by not following routes… I do it all the time!
February 25th, 2009 - 1:08 pm
Thanks Doc :),
All good points that I will employ religiously. Traversing and off-route climbing haven’t occurred to me. I hadn’t thought of the benefits that can come from not pulling up on everything.