UKBouldering.com

Forearm went twang (Read 4720 times)

catbreath

Offline
  • *
  • newbie
  • Posts: 21
  • Karma: +0/-0
Forearm went twang
May 31, 2015, 02:15:31 pm
I was climbing a route today, had to make a move from a little crimp which i was able to drag from open handed, but when I made the move and pulled With those fingers, suddenly had a shooting pain down my ring finger pretty much to my elbow, and not really a snap but a crunchy sort of feeling. I immediately let go and went home. There's no pain in the finger, and I can move it fine, also crimps and holding like I'd hold a jug cause no pain at all, and there doesn't appear to be any weakness, but my forearm is aching like a bastard and trying to pull at all using just the last part of that finger really hurts most of the way down my forearm. I've got a physio appointment booked, but until I see them does anyone have any idea what I might have done, and how long it might be till I can climb again? Cheers.

Nibile

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 7991
  • Karma: +743/-4
  • Part Animal Part Machine
    • TOTOLORE
#1 Re: Forearm went twang
May 31, 2015, 02:20:34 pm
I've had it before, it's the typical openhanded tendon strain.
It took a while to fix it but eventually it came together. The physio will sort you out, at the time I did ultrasounds, laser and electrostimulation, but I'm talking about ten years ago so probably there are better therapies now.
Good luck.

catbreath

Offline
  • *
  • newbie
  • Posts: 21
  • Karma: +0/-0
#2 Re: Forearm went twang
May 31, 2015, 02:29:27 pm
Thanks! How long did it take to be back climbing again?

Nibile

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 7991
  • Karma: +743/-4
  • Part Animal Part Machine
    • TOTOLORE
#3 Re: Forearm went twang
May 31, 2015, 02:41:35 pm
I can't remember, it was too long ago...
But, seriously, prepare yourself to be patient.

Three Nine

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 1305
  • Karma: +136/-55
#4 Re: Forearm went twang
May 31, 2015, 04:45:32 pm
I was climbing a route today, had to make a move from a little crimp which i was able to drag from open handed, but when I made the move and pulled With those fingers, suddenly had a shooting pain down my ring finger pretty much to my elbow, and not really a snap but a crunchy sort of feeling. I immediately let go and went home. There's no pain in the finger, and I can move it fine, also crimps and holding like I'd hold a jug cause no pain at all, and there doesn't appear to be any weakness, but my forearm is aching like a bastard and trying to pull at all using just the last part of that finger really hurts most of the way down my forearm. I've got a physio appointment booked, but until I see them does anyone have any idea what I might have done, and how long it might be till I can climb again? Cheers.

That's a flexor unit strain. Rest, ice and vit I for a few days, maybe a week. Then just climb on holds which dont irritate it - as hard as you like on certain holds. It will probably be irritated by anything dropping your pinky - ie. mid 2 and front 3. Crimping and half crimping on all 4 is likely to be fine once the initial swelling gone down. I doubt the physio will be helpful at all unless they treat a lot of climbers.

The good news is, if i'm right, you will be able to climb quite hard quite soon on specific types of holds. Bad news is, they take ages to heal - so it will prob be a while before you're able to pull on pockets/drag stuff with certain combinations of fingers.

catbreath

Offline
  • *
  • newbie
  • Posts: 21
  • Karma: +0/-0
#5 Re: Forearm went twang
May 31, 2015, 05:10:50 pm
Cheers both of you, bit of a bummer as I'd just smashed through a bit of a plateau. Using fingers together it doesn't hurt so much and jugs and crimps seemed fine, so Ill take some time off and then climbing around it shouldn't be too bad.

catbreath

Offline
  • *
  • newbie
  • Posts: 21
  • Karma: +0/-0
#6 Re: Forearm went twang
June 17, 2015, 11:16:08 am
Just in case this helps anyone else...saw a physio two weeks ago and she said it was unlikey it was anything too serious, and I've had no pain at all in a week or so, so climbed a bit at the gym last night. Totally avoided pockets and crimped a bunch of holds I'd normally open hand, but otherwise climbed at pretty much my normal level and even finished a couple routes I couldn't do before. So, feeling much better than I was a couple weeks ago!

Richie Crouch

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 1830
  • Karma: +92/-0
  • G Time
#7 Re: Forearm went twang
November 01, 2015, 07:11:01 pm
Curious to know how it panned out for you catbreath?

I think I experienced a mild flexor unit strain just over a week ago at the wall catching and letting go of a poor pocket in a 2 finger drag over the lip of a roof. Bit of stiffness in the inner forearm, so took a week off and noticed it still gets aggravated from 2 finger open stuff but all other grip types remain ok.

I did a mild resistance assessment and only felt the forearm if isolating the ring finger. I'm guessing that I should avoid pockets in font (1 week away) and catching anything without the pinkie being involved for a good while?

catbreath

Offline
  • *
  • newbie
  • Posts: 21
  • Karma: +0/-0
#8 Re: Forearm went twang
January 25, 2016, 12:01:39 pm
Hey! I climbed once or twice more but found it was way too easy to accidentally irritate even on easy stuff, so I took a two month break. Saw a specialist after that as it still hurt if I tried to curl the tip of the finger with any kind of resistance, she was awesome and explained it was probably the connective tissue joining the pinky/ring finger tendons but said there wasn't really anything I could do but be patient. I stopped climbing totally until the end of December, had a tentative scary climb just after xmas and went from there.

After 6 or so months of no climbing at all I was pretty rusty, but things are coming back quick and apart from being super careful not to drag with a dropped pinky and avoiding potentially dodgy dynamic stuff and little pockets, I'm pretty much climbing like I used to.

Bear in mind I only climb around v4/v5 indoors so YMMV. Good luck!

 

SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal