[yetix]

I've got sharp pain when in a half crimp position sometimes in my ring finger , along with swelling to the joint, once warmed up I almost always done notice it. My fingers also feel stronger than ever at the moment I should add.

Recently I went to the clinic in Sheffield and had it ultrasound scanned and the tendons in good nick and generally looked fine according to the therapist.

Wondering if anyone has had anything similar and how they tackled it.

Posting as a new thread as I can't find anything similar enough. Other posts suggest the pain is more of an ache which isn't the case at all.

[slab_happy]

I've got sharp pain when in a half crimp position sometimes in my ring finger , along with swelling to the joint, once warmed up I almost always done notice it.

Does the pain feel like something in the joint's suddenly gone out of place or got pinched somehow? If so, yes, I've had something similar, in both ring fingers.

Hasn't been bad enough for me to get round to seeing a professional so far. I came up with the working theory that it was because I was tending to drop my little finger in half-crimps or not use it actively, and that meant the ring finger would skew to the side and bad things would happen to the joint, maybe related to the collateral ligaments (which I've tweaked before).

I've been working on noticing when I drop the little finger, and training a very strict half-crimp, and so far that seems to be doing the trick.

[yetix]

that's how it feels at times yes, I'm able to pull it and pop it and it feels better for a few minutes.

the pain doesn't feel like it affects my climbing at all I'm just a little concerned as it was unlike pulley issues I've had (so thought best to get it looked at).

by drop your little finger you mean go into a 3 finger drag? If so I avoid this like the plague and often drop off (mostly out of fear of injury!)

[sheavi]

Very unlikely to be a tendon problem.  Cleary related to the joint so could be capsulitis or a ligament strain.  How does it feel at the end of a climbing session and the next day?

[sheavi]

Could also be an A3 pulley.

If it's getting painful and swollen you need to back off half crimp position until it settles.  Simple really.  Then ease back in with some appropriate tapping. Volker Schoffl should have some taping videos on the web - have a look.

[yetix]

Ultrasound showed the tendon was in great condition according to the therapist. From the video (epicTV, the one on trainingbeta seems to have been taken down) I could find it looks like x taping is the recommendation for capsulitis, so I'll start doing that. I've found some recommendations to do finger curls for this on reddit/climbharder so I may try this after a little rest.

The next day the pinky side of the knuckle gets more swollen but the pain is no different really. The pain feels very different to pulleys I've had in the past, as slab_happy described like a pinching pain really

[yetix]

I have Volker's book as well so I will take a look into that and see if I can find anything

[erm, sam]

You just have to spend less time finger boarding and climbing on fingery steep boards, and more time climbing a diverse range of problems and perhaps, gasp, routes. At least for a while. As you must have worked out by now, finger strength is not your weakness, so basically you are getting injured for no reason.

All the diagnosis in the world will not change this basic fact.

[slab_happy]

that's how it feels at times yes, I'm able to pull it and pop it and it feels better for a few minutes.

And it feels like something's kind of gone back into place that was out of place, right? If so, sounds exactly like what I have/had. I still don't know what the fuck that is, but sounds like the same thing ...

by drop your little finger you mean go into a 3 finger drag? If so I avoid this like the plague and often drop off (mostly out of fear of injury!)

My impression is that when I mean to do a 3 finger drag, it's okay.

But (maybe because the drag is my preference), when I crimp something I sometimes end up with something in-between, where the front 3 fingers are half-crimping but the little finger is dropping off or touching the hold but not really pulling, and that seems to be when things are likely to go wonky for the ring finger. So, trying to break myself of that habit, strengthen the little finger and get it more active.

I forgot to mention -- when I was getting the finger pain, I made a ring splint out of strong velcro (seriously -- easy to adjust, doesn't stretch) to wear just below the PIP joint on the finger that was playing up, and that seemed to help.