[abarro81]

2 weeks ago I felt my finger do something a bit weird on a fingery undercut. When I looked down at it, the end of the finger bent upwards much more than normal - a bit like it was stuck in a hyperflexed crimp position. (Or like the end of my big fat clown shoes.) I'm talking the final joint so the bend is at the DIP joint. I went gentle on it and it seemed to sort itself out gradually. On Sunday it did the same thing again at the end of the day.

No doubt the rehab is the usual - don't do things that seem dangerous, gradually (clearly more so than I did) reintroduce pulling hard on crimpy holds etc. Just out of curiosity, however, I'd be interested to know if anyone has had the same or knows what it is?

Ta

[Nibile]

If I understand correctly that would be a hyperxtension. Maybe due to extreme stretch of the flexors under load?

[abarro81]

Yeah, I mean hyperextension. Never had it before, was just wondering if others have any experience on it

[sidewinder]

Did something similar to middle finger of my hand while pressing out/mantelling a crimp on something in the slate quarries, tip of finger definitely hyperextended (though didn't stay bent) treated as any other finger injury and it gradually got better, took a couple of months for full recovery.  I seem to remember having to take it particularly easy for the first couple of weeks.

[highrepute]

Ellie has got a similar thing going on with her finger. It's actually due to an injury to the next joint down causing tightness, that in turn causes the tendon running down the top of your finger to pull the end of your finger up. Do you have full range of motion in the finger (especially getting the PIP straight)? If not something work on.

Do you have any pain?

I've seen this on a couple of climbers and it kind of never went away but didn't limit their climbing. Did it definitely crop up just now?

[rodma]

Ellie has got a similar thing going on with her finger. It's actually due to an injury to the next joint down causing tightness, that in turn causes the tendon running down the top of your finger to pull the end of your finger up. Do you have full range of motion in the finger (especially getting the PIP straight)? If not something work on.

Do you have any pain?

I've seen this on a couple of climbers and it kind of never went away but didn't limit their climbing. Did it definitely crop up just now?

I had it on my lh middle finger about six years ago and it would hurt again any time i crimped or half crimped. the pain has gone away this year, as has the ability for that joint to hyper-flex

[gcarmichael]

i've had that happen on my pinkies. When it has happened the hyperextension has only been present for a day and usually has gone after a nights sleep. Never felt like it was an injury but just an overstretch. When it has happened in the past I continued to climb on it and it happens very rarely now (around once a year).

[abarro81]

Thanks for the responses all

Do you have full range of motion in the finger (especially getting the PIP straight)? If not something work on.

Do you have any pain?

Did it definitely crop up just now?

Definitely new. I have similar range of motion as my other middle finger, but both have slightly less range of motion than the others, either because they're injured a lot or as a cause of being injured a lot or both. It doesn't so much hurt as just feel a little tender, werid and injury prone... Bit sore if I press on top of the DIP knuckle but not pain like a pulley injury.
I'll try trying to increase range of motion in the PIP gently over the next few weeks.

[filz]

I've always had it on all my fingers except the ring ones which actually feel stiff and a little strange to me.

It has never given me any problem when climbing though I think the hyperextension might give a little mechanical disadvantage when crimping... but it's just a guess :-)

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[abarro81]

Went to see the specialists at the northern general today, they said they think it's a volar plate injury and want me to keep it in a splint that stops it fully straightening for 4 weeks.
Anyone got any experience with either volar plate injuries or splinting of fingers?

[petejh]

This is what I did last year:
http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php?topic=24491.0

I think I buddy taped it for around two weeks but by the 2nd week I'd try to flex it a little bit at numerous times through the day .

7 weeks after doing it I was ok for trying an 8a new route on the diamond. Took around 8 weeks until it felt fully healed.

[Banana finger]

I've always wondered if having hyperextending tips could be a good thing......people I know with this seem to be really good at crimping....I think because you can get your knuckles higher and closer to the hold thus reducing force on required to hold the position....moments etc......My tips have almost no flex in them at all and I am naturally pretty bad at crimping (i.e. I need to train the shit out of it to be ok).......what d'ya think?

[abarro81]

Thanks Pete, had missed that thread. Hard to find much info on DIP joint volar plate injuries on the web.

Interestingly, and very differently to your experience, the thing I've been struggling with is that it doesn't hurt and swell up much - it just feels exposed/dangerous and ends up pointing the wrong way. Makes it hard to judge if I'm doing too much (which I clearly have been as it's not been healing up well). About 30min after doing it the first time I was climbing again just no crimping. I think realistically the actual injury probably wasn't that bad, I've just made a hash of rehabbing it (due to the fact that it wasn't giving me the normal warning signs of pain and swelling) and have kept stretching the ligamenty stuff out too much so it's not healing tight enough and holding everything in place properly.

Gonna be on the index/ring/pinky mono train for a while and get myself a core of doom.

Banana: the doctor definitely didn't think this would help my crimping!