Tendon Trouble's

[OlyRob]

I recently injured my middle finger while bouldering at the gym. It's been 10 days now and the thing still hurts just as bad as the first day. I have been climbing for over 15 years and never had one feel near this bad. Has anyone had a serious tendon injury in a finger before and how long did it take to heal? Im starting to think I broke my finger!

[Jim]

Tweaked mine and it took 5 months to recover. I now always warm up, stretch, and tape. Bouldering (in the gym) seems to be the only time I've gotten tweaked, so I usually avoid it. Good luck and maybe save it for the outside season.

[OlyRob]

5 months? I hope mine doesnt take that long. I have a lot of stuff I want to climb this summer! Oh well thanks for the response, I like the gym for staying in shape but it's really going to piss me off if a stupid gym injury takes out my entire season of climbing

[Jim]

5 months does include the slight reinjury I did after giving it only a month rest. I would stress caution. If it hurts, don't use it. Rest, ice, mobility exercises.

[nalo]

I would reccomend getting and wearing some type of a brace/splint at night. I hurt my wrist, and didn't realize how much stress I was putting on it rolling around while asleep. Might help it heal faster.

[glassgowkiss]

so where does it hurt? is it on your finger or in your forearm? usually when it hurts on the finger itself we are talking tendon pulley, if the forearm is torn muscle belly or a tendon. the two later tend to last not so long, but the tendon pulley might last for up to 6 months.also - doest it hurt crimping or openhanded? might be also ia ligament. usually ice, forearm stretches, light muscle balancing excercises bring results within few months. figure out what happen. are your forearm flexor muscles overdeveloped and chronically tight?

brace will hinder blood flow to the area, so usually they hinder the recovery.

ice for first 72 hours, then ice/heat. light stretching at first, then more agressive after the pain is gone. then light stretching followed by some moderate climbing and then u are ready to start training again. go slow, don't fuck it up for good.

[chirp]

Hydration is also a key to tendon rehab. Not a massive player but it is most certainly key, especially if your "pushing hard" to get better.

Pure water, not Tea, coffee, or cola.

[billcoe]

so where does it hurt? is it on your finger or in your forearm? usually when it hurts on the finger itself we are talking tendon pulley, if the forearm is torn muscle belly or a tendon. the two later tend to last not so long, but the tendon pulley might last for up to 6 months.also - doest it hurt crimping or openhanded? might be also ia ligament. usually ice, forearm stretches, light muscle balancing excercises bring results within few months. figure out what happen. are your forearm flexor muscles overdeveloped and chronically tight?

brace will hinder blood flow to the area, so usually they hinder the recovery.

ice for first 72 hours, then ice/heat. light stretching at first, then more agressive after the pain is gone. then light stretching followed by some moderate climbing and then u are ready to start training again. go slow, don't fuck it up for good.

 

What he said.

 

Also: as you are driving to go climbing, massage in both your finger and elbow joints can and will help dramatically and serve as a pre-warmup to help minimize re-injury.

[Collin]

I injured my tendon in my elbow aobut a month and a half ago from bouldering. I tried to climb 3 weeks after the injury and it was not healed. Lots of rest like everyone says. It's hard as hell not to climb but to be able to climb with out pain in the future, might be worth the wait.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

This is pretty funny, people expecting their injuries to heal in ten days or a couple weeks. Unless you're really lucky, no tendon twang or joint ouch is going to be healing in any unit of time less than months.

 

Happy recovery!

[Gaper_Jeffy]

the tendon pulley might last for up to 6 month

 

In November of 2002 while impressing the MILFs at Clubsport, I grabbed a thin hold at an awkward angle and my ring finger made a pop and gave up all strength. Being young and stupid (still am), I "climbed thru the pain" and continued climbing that day and that weekend before realizing I had really done some damage. I rested for a few months then tried off and on climbing but it was never pain free. Over 2 years later my finger is still not 100% and there have been several times I've almost fully re-injured it. I'm not that interested in climbing (especially in the MILF infested gym) anymore so I don't mind the injury except it does bother me sometimes when I swim (of all things!).

 

I've been meaning to make an appointment with a hand specialist. Anyone know a good one in the Portland area?

 

[OlyRob]

great stuff everybody, thanks. I went to a physical therapist and she told me to ice it three times a day for the next 10 days and take Ibuprofen plus lots of water. I took my daughter to the gym last night to let her climb so I tested my finger out while we were there. Its still way screwed up. I'm thinking Dr Flash is right, this is going to take months.

 

Oh yea, whoever said no coffee, soda and beer.....screw you! J/J

[plexus]

the tendon pulley might last for up to 6 month

 

In November of 2002 while impressing the MILFs at Clubsport, I grabbed a thin hold at an awkward angle and my ring finger made a pop and gave up all strength. Being young and stupid (still am), I "climbed thru the pain" and continued climbing that day and that weekend before realizing I had really done some damage. I rested for a few months then tried off and on climbing but it was never pain free. Over 2 years later my finger is still not 100% and there have been several times I've almost fully re-injured it. I'm not that interested in climbing (especially in the MILF infested gym) anymore so I don't mind the injury except it does bother me sometimes when I swim (of all things!).

 

I've been meaning to make an appointment with a hand specialist. Anyone know a good one in the Portland area?

 

Same exact thing happened to my buddy. He took four months off. Started again a few weeks ago with tape and was doing OK. Today he forgot to tape up and it hurt. Hoping he doesn't have a relapse.

 

But then again I've had chronic tendenitis in my left elbow for over 12 years now. Really flaired up a couple of days ago. Today was fine until a hard bouldering problem at the gym when the flood gates opened up. The arm was dead. Pain from the elbow to the hand and also from the elbow back up to my shoulder. Real nice.

 

Icing it was excruciating, same travelling pain; ice the inside where it hurts and an electric current up my forarm to the palm of my hand. On the outside, pain shooting up to my elbow. It's going to really suck 10 years down the road.

[OlyRob]

My physical therapyst told me the following:

 

"Ice it until it goes numb three times a day and take Ibuprofen once a day for the first 10 days after injury to reduce swelling"

 

"Freeze a dixie cup of water and then massage the injured area with it for 10-12 minutes...then you can put the dixie cup back in the freezer"

 

There are three stages in icing:

First is the ice is really really cold (duh)

Second the ice feels like you are being poked with needles

third the area goes numb(After about 10-12 minutes)

 

 

I threw in the fourth stage:

Flesh turns black and falls off......She wasnt amused.

 

 

Well its been since January 10th and I have done what she said and it still hurts like hell especially if I put any pressure on it. I would say it still has another 90% healing to go before it's back at 100%....if its ever back at 100% that is. God Im getting old.

[sexual_chocolate]

Patience. It sucks, and you'll think sometimes that it'll never heal, but I bet in a couple more weeks the pain will be way less. (Did they recommend a splint? And do you out of necessity use it during the day? These could be aggravating it....)

 

And my finger injury: I fell snowboarding at Baker yesterday (the snow was awesome!), and hyperextended my left index finger as I fell into a tree. No climbing for a while boo hoo.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

Speaking of tape that someone mentioned, DFA has had good experience with buddy taping the injured digit to an adjoining one, once it gets around time to climb on it again; this seems to help in keeping you from yarding on the hurt one too much.

 

We'll see how effective this advice is, 'cause guess which famous internet climbing pundit/freelance medical professional just wrecked his finger at the gym?

 

 

In the words of a chalkbag DFA saw at the crag once, "Fuck Climbing"!

[Jens]

Sorry to hear the news.

On the bright side, injuries have let many sport climbers launch great alpine climbing careers.......

My advice is never to use finger tape- even when you are healthy.

I've suffered tendonitis or ligament damage in every finger (except for pinkies) on both hands. Another tip I've done is if you are craving rock and have a finger strain, get into a sqeeze chimney and offwidth phase.

[OlyRob]

Alpine climbing eh? Excellent

 

Well good news, 6 weeks into this and I'm climbing again.

God that took a long time and it still hurts so I'm not pushing it. The first day back it was sore but it loosened up quickly and now it feels WAY better. Thanks for all the posts guys!!!

[catbirdseat]

I've had tendonitis in both arms for months from computer use. I started taking ibuprofen and that helped, but what really helped was taking a cod liver oil supplement. CLO has Omega-3 fatty acids in it. Some people, in fact many people, have diets that are deficient in this essential fatty acid. I've read that many inflammatory conditions will respond to Omega-3. Maybe it was coincidence and maybe it is in my head, but I'm going to keep taking the stuff.

[kix]

I've had tendonitis in both arms for months from computer use. I started taking ibuprofen and that helped, but what really helped was taking a cod liver oil supplement. CLO has Omega-3 fatty acids in it. Some people, in fact many people, have diets that are deficient in this essential fatty acid. I've read that many inflammatory conditions will respond to Omega-3. Maybe it was coincidence and maybe it is in my head, but I'm going to keep taking the stuff.

 

 

so what say ye now about the CLO?

[catbirdseat]

No carpel tunnel problems now, but I did tweak my left right finger bouldering about 4 weeks ago. It has almost healed completely.

 

I forgot to ask Jens why he recommends never taping fingers. That is not what the experts recommend.

[Knottygirl]

Hmmm, I hurt my wrist awhile back and usually it seems fine (pulling on plastic) until yesterday when I went outside and on a side pull I felt my wrist lose all strenghth. Any tips for wrist recovery???

[billcoe]

I've had tendonitis in both arms for months from computer use. I started taking ibuprofen and that helped, but what really helped was taking a cod liver oil supplement. CLO has Omega-3 fatty acids in it. Some people, in fact many people, have diets that are deficient in this essential fatty acid. I've read that many inflammatory conditions will respond to Omega-3. Maybe it was coincidence and maybe it is in my head, but I'm going to keep taking the stuff.

 

No kidding? If I get suckered into this, I don't think I could take the laughter later:

hahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahhhahahahahahaha.

 

My foot hurts I'll try anything.

 

Josephs looking for a good hand specialist: did that every get resolved up above on this thread?