[roddersm]

Any advice on pulley injuries? How long do they take to heal? is it better to climb or not to climb? I've had one for a few weeks and have really cut back on training - from about 4-5 sessions of indoor bouldering to about 2-3 easier bouldering on slopers and jugs and some bar work. However my finger doesn't seem to be improving. Is it better to totally rest? Has anyone kept climbing and the injury has went away? I've seen some stuff by dave macleod about immersing your hand in cold water for 30min but thats a bit off a pain in the arse. Any other tips?

Cheers

Rodney. 

[mrjonathanr]

When you immerse your finger, keep it away from your anus? That shit works (so to speak).
Big holds, steady climbing, water, ice and Voltarol.And eventually you'll crack with the self-discipline and stress it - which after an appropriate amount of rehab is what it will need. Seriously tho. , I'd pay attention to DM and all the others who have been there before you.
Might be best to give it a total rest for a week or so first...

[GCW]

Personally, I'd rest it for 2 weeks then re-assess.  Active rehab may be appropriate at that point, then after a couple of weeks get back into climbing (gently at first).  I'd tailor it to the finger itself.  But Dave knows what he's talking about.

There isn't really a short cut with this- rush back and you'll spend longer getting it sorted.

[Twiglett]

I agree with GCW, rest then active rest seems to work well.

[roddersm]

Cheers guys.

[route149]

Any advice on pulley injuries? How long do they take to heal? is it better to climb or not to climb?

Hello.  I've certainly been there.  Quite a years ago, one of my 4th fingers was so knackered after an acute tendon injury that I couldn't move the distal joint except with the other hand - it just wouldn't respond.  And the rest of it was in 'trigger finger' mode - you could move it so far and then it would ping to a new position. I also popped an A2 in the next finger along a few years later.

I'd say, having tried to train all manner of injuries (not all as severe as this) that it's really best to completely forget about training until all sensation of pain is gone.   What this is about, deep down, is coming to understand that by continuing to train (even bar work), while there's signigicant repair going on, you're just prolonging your recovery.  It could cost you years of on-and-off performance in the end (as it did with me).  Meantime, I'd go with icing the finger in water with ice cubes in it for up to20 mins at a time.  Do it at least twice a day and see how you go.

Also, do get yourself to a sports physio with climbing understanding and experience.  These mechanical linkages are much more complex and subtle than we realise.  I found that ultrasound and the right supporting exercises really made a difference.

[SA Chris]

In the grand scheme of things icing is not really a pain in the arse. You sit and watch telly or crack one off with the other hand while waiting. Less of a pain in the arse than an actute tendon injury. I have never kept climbing and a finger injury has gone away, I'm afraid.

[Stu Littlefair]

Any advice on pulley injuries? How long do they take to heal? is it better to climb or not to climb?

I've slowly been coming to the opinion that one-size-fits-all advice in this matter is totally useless. Certainly my experience has been the opposite of SA Chris, and no injury has ever got better through rest. Perhaps what is going on here is that scar tissue growth varies massively between individuals? Regardless, the way I assess what to do is that recovery from a pulley injury should involve discomfort, but not sharp pain.

As your body heals the injury with scar tissue, the pulley will need massage, stretching and gentle loading (i.e climbing). Massage breaks down and softens the scar tissue, allowing the stretching to align fibres and prevent fibres from 'sticking' together. I would start a routine of frequent massage, stretching and icing - and I'd do it the same day I injured the finger. Start of gentle, but once the pain goes down you should hammer this aspect.

For me, I think scar tissue growth is rampant, and a few days after the injury I need to be climbing on it again. Pain is your guide here. You should feel some mild discomfort when warming up, but climbing itself should be moderately high in volume, and pain free. Do not push it AT ALL here, or you're going backwards. Some people will need to leave it a lot longer before climbing, others should climb straight away. Either way, the more pain free clibing you can do, the faster and better you'll heal. Let the pain be your guide...

[account_inactive]

Good advice from Stu.  As people have said in the past there is no magic formula to healing finger injuries.  A few points to adhere/consider though.....

- Reduce swelling as soon as possible and promote blood flow
- Don't re-injure, so back off when there is pain
- Identify scar tissue and try to break it down and realign the fibres
- Check out -One move too many.  Having some idea of what is going on with the architecture of your hand will help you assess your injury. Knowledge is power!



I'm also big fan of climbing through finger injuries and have had less success taking time off.  I fucked an A2 at Rubicon a week before a trip to Rocklands.  I managed to climb with an open hand while I was away and played with a variety of NSAIDs, EMS and Ice.  It took about 3 months before I could fully crimp again without worrying

[roddersm]

Once again guys thanks a lot for the responses. I've been fairly lucky with injuries, probably because I don't climb or train hard enough to get them     . I've had a couple of minor finger injuries before and a dose of font elbow a few years ago but this seems to a bit worse than any I've had before in that it seems a good bit more painful. In the past I've usely continued to train on albeit by avoiding the type of problem or moves that caused the injury.

I believe the injury wasn't acute but brought on by overuse by an increase in training and climbing volume over the past month or so. I don't know if this makes a difference or not.  I should mention that I initially took a week off training but found in my first light session back little or no improvement.

I should also mention when I say training, for me I mean doing 3-4, 80-90 minute sessions on an indoor wall per week, involving bouldering and/or  of pull-ups on a fingerboard or maybe some stamina traverses/circuits on smallish holds , not beasting it on a campus board or system trainings like some of the strong guys here!

Also I'm 28 and climb around trad E1-E4, Font 7a ish bouldering level which may or may not be relevent. Although this may give a better profile of my physical condition and the level at which I would be climbing should I ignore the advice to rest - this may make a difference in that I'd me going out trying to onsight an E2 or E3 say or trying a 7a+ boulder problem as apposed to trying to redpoint an 8c. Maybe this is irrelevent to the approach to recovering but I though I'd mention it anyway...   

[mrjonathanr]

I believe the injury wasn't acute but brought on by overuse by an increase in training and climbing volume over the past month or so. I don't know if this makes a difference or not. 
IT DOES. YOUR BODY NEEDS TIME TO ADAPT TO AN INCREASE IN STRESS. HOW MUCH IS UNIQUE TO THE INDIVIDUAL.

Also I'm 28 and climb around trad E1-E4, Font 7a ish bouldering level which may or may not be relevent. 
IT ISN'T. THE ISSUE IS SOLELY THE EXTENT TO WHICH YOUR BODY IS ADAPTED TO THE STRESSES IT EXPERIENCES.

Sorry to shout but the subtleties of the quote whatnot elude me.
I knackered a tendon at Buoux years ago - because I didn't know what the pain was. It tore further and deteriorated.
First off, rest till pain subsides, addressing the inflammation as recommended above by various posters. Active rehab is then the way forward .DMcLeod has helpful things to say about injuries on his Online Climbing Coach site. You can climb on jugs for a while. Tape mostly reminds you to be cautious - I doubt it takes more than 10% of the load even when done well, although that doesn't hold if you tape the finger straight: but that's not really active rest then is it?
Take it steady AND GET EXPERT ADVICE (shouting again, I know), it'll be a blip. Don't - well it's your choice really.
 

[roddersm]

Thanks man. It seems the overwhelming advice is that continuing to climb is going to make things worse, although I take on board what stu is saying. I suppose the last post by myself was to make the distinction between myself and the likes of stu or dave macleod and the level of climbing/training I'd be doing but like you say the physical stress is all relative.   

[GCW]

Interesting stuff.

[slackline]

Interesting stuff.

Good find there  , thats my reading for today as its raining