[jooonas]

For some time I have been having some problem with taking holds open handed without the pinky. When pulling without the pinky so that the pinky kinda of curls up I get some pain in the palm. The pain comes from puling with the ring finger whilst the ring finger is curled. The pain becomes worse with larger load. However if I take a break for 20min it can be alright for the rest of the session as long as I don't go super hard.

Any thoughts what this could be and how to rehab it? I injured the ring finger when pulling

[Three Nine]

This is a lumbrical which is giving you some shit (little muscle connecting the bits of tendon which do ring and pinky flexion after they have bifurcated - they come off the same tendon). If you ping one fully it will hurt like fuck and you wont be able to take anything with your pinky dropped for ages. So, for now dont climb anything with your pinky dropped - ie. front 3 drags or mid two pockets. Everything else will be fine. Stretch fingers gently for a bit and massage palm etc.

Once its settled down, get a fingerboard and hang front three/mid two on good holds with your pinky curled inwards. Ie do what has been aggravating it but very very gently and in a controlled way. Do this a few times a week. Then gradually over months ramp it up until you are able to pull like fuck on mid two with pinky curled up. Go too fast and 'ping!'.

[Three Nine]

This is a lumbrical which is giving you some shit (little muscle connecting the bits of tendon which do ring and pinky flexion after they have bifurcated - they come off the same tendon). If you ping one fully it will hurt like fuck and you wont be able to take anything with your pinky dropped for ages. So, for now dont climb anything with your pinky dropped - ie. front 3 drags or mid two pockets. Everything else will be fine. Stretch fingers gently for a bit and massage palm etc.

Once its settled down, get a fingerboard and hang front three/mid two on good holds with your pinky curled inwards. Ie do what has been aggravating it but very very gently and in a controlled way. This may be with your feet on or whatnot - think of it as rehab not strength training as the muscle is small and pathetic like a rotator cuff muscle.  Do this a few times a week. Then gradually over months ramp it up until you are able to pull like fuck on mid two with pinky curled up. Go too fast and 'ping!', back to square one.

[Three Nine]

I was trying to edit my post - but fucked up.

[36chambers]

I've noticed the same thing recently with my right hand. Cheers Three Nine

[jooonas]

Thanks for the info. Sounds quite similar to how one would rehab a pulley injury but perhaps with a different timeframe and of course different excercises. Any thought on what feeling to go for during rehab, 0 pain or some slight sensation?
 

[TheTwig]

I would go zero pain to pain slowly over a long time and back off at the first sign of it getting worse, then start again. Seems to be the gold standard in rehabbing just about everything 

[jooonas]

It has now been about a month of trying to sort this out. I did no climbing or training with dropping the pinky in the first 2 weeks or so. On the hangboard I worked back two and middle finger monos, something that I never done before. The last two weeks I introduced dropping the pinky by also adding middle two on deep pockes with very low load (assisted). Now it feels completly healed and I did some heavyish hangs with middle two last few sessions. I did not expect it to heal this rapidly given that I had problems with it for more or less a year. One thing I did notice for me at least is that pockets takes alot more warming up compared to crimps, which maybe (?) could be key to not getting this type of injury.

Thanks for the advice!