[Schnell]

I've a slightly injured collateral ligament on my middle finger on the ring finger side, which is healing very slowly. It seems to be aggravated by openhanding, crimping is ok. About a year ago I had the reverse, with a collateral ligament injury on the index finger side of the middle finger (on the other had), which was aggravated by crimping.  Thinking about how position/stresses on the finger in each position this kind of makes sense, ie when openhanding it seems to be flaring up cos it's torqueing outwards and towards the ring finger at the injured joint.

Just wondered if anyone had experience of this and particularly suggestions about how either how to support the joint (I've tried obvious taping methods along the sides of the finger and buddy taping with little to no effect) or how to stop the finger bending outwards when openhanding?

[abarro81]

I had (have?) issues with a collateral which I injured nearly 2 years ago now (middle finger). I couldn't pin it down to one particular side of the finger. Thoughts:
- Rehab is a slow fucker, full 18 months to get totally better (then tweaked that pulley  )
- On the bright side, I could operate with impunity on many grips, it was only some that caused problems, so during that 18 months I did my hardest ever RP and onsight
- Front 2 and Monos caused aggro, as did crimping. Sidepulls were dangerous but sometimes ok and were hard to predict.
- Being pumped was dangerous initially as it encouraged me to torque into holds more
- Front 3 open was very safe
- Mid 2 open I had to learn to hold my hand differently. Instead of dropping my index finger down I had to hold it up, almost like I was using f3 but without the index actually on anything and bent at PIP joint to keep it out of the way. This was particularly important when fingerboarding, seemed less crucial on actual holds. I still hold holds like this on this hand, as a defence mechanism or something. It sounds like this may help you as it keeps the hand more front on and less twisty
- I used tape on each side of the finger then taped in an x pattern, crossing over under the joint, gradually getting further away from the joint as I wound the tape on.

[Schnell]

- Rehab is a slow fucker, full 18 months to get totally better (then tweaked that pulley  )

I know how you feel. I had the previous collateral injury which was just healing when I fucked a pulley, then picked up this collateral injury by openhanding everything.

Anyway, loads of helpful stuff there, thanks.  It's primarily irritated by mid2 openhanding, so I'll try changing the index finger position and also the taping pattern you mention.

Just out of interest, how is it that you couldn't say which side of finger it's on? Where does it cause pain if not on one or other side of PIP joint?

[abarro81]

Just out of interest, how is it that you couldn't say which side of finger it's on? Where does it cause pain if not on one or other side of PIP joint?

Both! I didn't feel like my pain was localised to one side of the joint, the whole joint seemed sore, inflamed etcThere were actually two separate moments when it tweaked near the start of the injury so maybe I tweaked both sides.

[Schnell]

Just out of interest, how is it that you couldn't say which side of finger it's on? Where does it cause pain if not on one or other side of PIP joint?

Both! I didn't feel like my pain was localised to one side of the joint, the whole joint seemed sore, inflamed etcThere were actually two separate moments when it tweaked near the start of the injury so maybe I tweaked both sides.

Oh right that's bad luck. My two collateral injuries have both been quite specifically on one side or other. When aggravated I get pain all up that side of the finger.