[gibbermonkey]

I've been bouldering regularly for a couple of months and I'm really enjoying it. I've made some steady progress and time at the wall is always a highlight, but a recent session has left me with somewhat tender tendons. I spent three hours with a few friends at an indoor wall,  a lot of which was spent on some fairly steep problems. The result is that I have pain in the tendons of my ring, index and middle fingers of both hands. The left is slightly worse than the right. I've been resting them, taking ibuprofen, contrast bathing and working them with closed cell foam stress balls to get the blood flowing. I'm wondering if there's anything more I can do to speed up recovery as I'm going out of my mind waiting to get back climbing.

Thanks guys.

[shark]

At the risk of stating the obvious it sounds like you should lay-off the steep fingery stuff for a few weeks rather than look at ways to speed recovery and re-direct your energies on less finger intensive stuff i.e. easy or slabby climbing or circuits - maybe use it as an opportunity to train core, pull-ups, weights and flexibility

[Oldmanmatt]

As the man eater said...
Finger tweaks are a bugger when you start out or come back from a lay off. Much of your arm/finger muscle strength will come quite quickly, but tendons and joint cartilidge take time to catch up. Rest it longer than you think you need to, not just until it stops hurting. Build up slowly. After it stops hurting, go back to the steep stuff, slowly. Don't over do it!
I have rushed back myself and regreted it. I reckon it took me a year of training to build up enough overall finger strength to consistantly work steep problems.
It can be very hard to know when to quit. I advocate playing safe.

[tommytwotone]

+1 to the advice regarding laying off the fingers if you're looking to speed up recovery.

In my experience rest is probably the best thing you can do if you've knacked a finger, and carrying on crimping on it will certainly impede it. Suck it up, climb some slabs, go some weights and/or a shedload of core.

Might be worth sticking your hand in a bucket of icy water for 20-30 mins a couple of times a day as well, that seems to have been beneficial whenever I've picked up finger problems.

[SA Chris]

Is it pain in specific spots, or just an overall ache?

If it's pain in specific spots then agree with above, but if it's just an ache, as per the title, then it's your body telling you it's been working hard.

[gibbermonkey]

Thanks for the sound advice everyone. It seems like I should take it a little easier and concentrate on other areas for the moment.

I've just undergone a crash course in anatomy thanks to the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. The pain seems to be concentrated at the distal interphalangeal, proximal interphalangeal and metacarpophalangeal joints on the index, middle and ring fingers. I can make a fist and grip with all my strength with little or no discomfort, but if I grip an object, or hang from a hold or bar, the level of discomfort increases dramatically. It feels as though when I grip, pressure is being applied to the flexor tendon as it is pinched between the bone and the object being gripped.

I've noticed that stretching my flexors eases the discomfort, so much so that I managed to climb for an hour and a half last weekend, but the result was an increase in discomfort in the following days. I also find that when I wake my fingers ache, although this usually disappears within a short time. Presumably this is due to restricted blood flow.

[mrjonathanr]

You should not exacerbate this - I couldn't say what exactly, but the protocol is basic: be as active as you can but not so as to cause pain (during or after). Ice, stretch, rest, climb if pain-free. Taking bigger holds on steeper walls may help.

[Muenchener]

It feels as though when I grip, pressure is being applied to the flexor tendon as it is pinched between the bone and the object being gripped.

That, my dear, is *the* classic precursor sensation to a ring pulley tear. Had it myself last summer when I resumed training after a long layoff; heard it several times from other people.

Stop doing anything hard/fingery. Cold water "Lewis Reaction" treatement - see Dave macLeod's blog for details - and massage. My GP, who is a climber, said doing really easy climbing for a couple of months is better than not climbing at all, assuming you have the self discipline to really keep it really easy . Routes might be a better bet than bouldering.

[milksnake]

Time to get awesome at friction slabs, the climbing doesn't need to be easy, as long as theres no proper handholds to speak of. You can't damage your fingers if you cant crank on your arms.

[mrjonathanr]

You can't damage a pulley if the finger's taped rigid and semi-straight 

[gibbermonkey]

Cold water "Lewis Reaction" treatement - see Dave macLeod's blog for details.

I had a good look at Dave's blog last night and this morning and have tried to make this work, but so far I've had no success. First attempt used very cold tap water, no ice, and after 30 minutes I'd had no apparent vasodilatation. I tried again with some slightly warmer water, which also failed, and a third time with the addition of ice. Does anyone have any experience of the Lewis Reaction? What am I doing wrong?

[Stu Littlefair]

Normally I use a pan of cold water with a few ice cubes in it. If it doesn't feel slightly uncomfortable for the first few minutes, it's too warm. Id also keep a cup with ice cubes next to you so you can add cubes if the water warms up.

Someone above said its a good idea to keep climbing, but as easily as possible. I'd second that. The worst thing you can do for an injury is stop completely. Dave Mc recommends climbing open handed exclusively - I can't recommend that enough. It'll dramatically reduce the load on your pulleys and is probably a weak grip for you, so you'll benefit in the long run.

[gibbermonkey]

Normally I use a pan of cold water with a few ice cubes in it. If it doesn't feel slightly uncomfortable for the first few minutes, it's too warm. Id also keep a cup with ice cubes next to you so you can add cubes if the water warms up.

Someone above said its a good idea to keep climbing, but as easily as possible. I'd second that. The worst thing you can do for an injury is stop completely. Dave Mc recommends climbing open handed exclusively - I can't recommend that enough. It'll dramatically reduce the load on your pulleys and is probably a weak grip for you, so you'll benefit in the long run.

Cheers. I'm going to have another bash later on and see how I go. Hopefully I'll see some results. I've been hanging from a pull-up bar this morning and it's not too uncomfortable, so I'm going to get down to the wall tomorrow and take it really easy. Meanwhile I'm off to buy some tape. If I take the bike I can work my fingers on the clutch, or at least that's my excuse.

[ducko]

I had the same issue on both hands thanks to crimpers,
It took me about 2months to fully recover, I did the usual hot cold stuff, massage, and used a stress ball to increase bloodflow,
I carried on climbing on easier problems bigger holds etc but I also used the H brace style taping method for about 3 weeks then reduced to just a single wrap and kept working the tape less and looser until I could climb without, then carry on taking it easy and doing the other stuff and you should be ok, my fingers now feel stronger than ever, good luck