[Hoseyb]

Having a thicker chest sounds pretty good to me. Both in terms of climbing…

Not if you want to climb squeeze chimneys.

Almost got stuck recently after trying to repeat an old favourite. Obviously been getting too hench

[Wellsy]

Day 14 - I'm fucking sick of dragging this piece of shit leg around. At this rate I'm cutting it off and chucking it in the fucking sea. Just get better you useless fucking thing.

[Fiend]

 

[Wellsy]

It's been three weeks and a day.

My knee is generally a lot better. I can jump on the spot no problem, jog a little, etc. It generally feels stiff and swollen all the time which comes and goes but can be quite unpleasant. Its definitely stronger but it's still unstable with valgus pressure and I have to be careful as if I say, lunged with my left leg forward and turned my right foot out slowly, it feels like a rubber band would be stretched inside my knee.

I'm training plenty (not overtraining, just regularly and with some strong effort) but I really miss bouldering a lot. This sucks. I hope it recovers, and I know that I need to be patient (and I am) but people I know are out climbing and I can't, it sucks.

Ah well. Must crack on with other things, stay in shape, and just do what I can

[CapitalistPunter]

Get well soon babe

[Wellsy]

Ta darlin

[Fiend]

Phew, was waiting for an update.

Glad to hear you're keeping the training steady and ongoing and there's some mobility in the knee - keep that bit steady too.

Yes people are climbing, the arseholes. Although it's been pretty dire on the grit with sun and light easterlies.

Actually I was thinking about this issue the other day. You obviously know full well that when your knee recovers to good climbing functionality, this good weather will end and it will piss down for weeks if not months, and initially you're going to hate that. BUT try to take heart when that happens, that you are someone who is focused and progressive and likes training and trying to improve, and you will still be able to do that. It will suck if the weather forces you to miss yet more climbing time after the injury has already forced too much time off, but when you can train and climb indoors again, you can keep working towards progress and end goals, it won't be as desirable as getting out but it won't be wasted.

[Moo]

You could be doing some very low level traversing, the sooner you get back on the wall the better.

[BID]

Phew, was waiting for an update.

Glad to hear you're keeping the training steady and ongoing and there's some mobility in the knee - keep that bit steady too.

Yes people are climbing, the arseholes. Although it's been pretty dire on the grit with sun and light easterlies.

Actually I was thinking about this issue the other day. You obviously know full well that when your knee recovers to good climbing functionality, this good weather will end and it will piss down for weeks if not months, and initially you're going to hate that. BUT try to take heart when that happens, that you are someone who is focused and progressive and likes training and trying to improve, and you will still be able to do that. It will suck if the weather forces you to miss yet more climbing time after the injury has already forced too much time off, but when you can train and climb indoors again, you can keep working towards progress and end goals, it won't be as desirable as getting out but it won't be wasted.

Feel the love young Wells.

[SA Chris]

It's been three weeks and a day.

Since you took your working knee away.

[Wellsy]

You're right Fiend. I will make good use of the time and also the rehabilitation has taught me things like the importance of leg strength for longevity and falling etc. Injuries/time stuck inside during shit weather/etc are a part of climbing and I intend to be doing that indefinitely so I need to become resilient to these periods. In retrospect lockdown may have been good "warmups" for that!

Moo I think you're right, and I actually did some of the blue circuit yesterday at the CWs, some pinkles, and some low moves on the BM less steep board where I can avoid using the leg in a tricky way. It was mostly to test what it can and can't do, it can be used fine direct on with some variation, its just being careful it doesn’t turn inwards through a move. My guidance was no climbing for three weeks post incident so I'm clear to try some stuff.

I'll get traversing probably tomorrow. I reckon. I can safely drop about a meter onto the mats so good progress.

[Wellsy]

Couple of sessions of like, 3-4 grade climbing and the knee is feeling more reliable. 1m falls under control are totally fine. Keeping it casual. Dicked around on the campus board the other day and got 1-4-6 done. It feels like that's a good outlet for trying hard at something slightly dynamic? Also campusing on the board, one foot on moves etc.

Slowly we get back into it. I am looking forward to trying hard on actual problems again but taking it slow. On the upside the general strength and stability is much improved.

[User deactivated.]

Campus dynamism is a very different skill/strength to what is needed on many dynamic boulders. Take the classic Deliverance at plantation, which favours a climber who is proficient with their feet rather than one who can 1-4-7 on the small rungs.

If you want to take advantage of your excellent finger strength and pulling power I'd be pointing you towards steep fingery lime stuff. I bet you'd do well on Sheep Shifter at Cave Dale which is around 7b/+ and really good.

Obviously don't go rushing into anything because even a modest fall could set you back to square one.

[Wellsy]

Steep fingery lime is definitely what I'm suited to best I think. But I enjoy working on my weaknesses and I'd been trying dynos from crap feet, weird power generation off slopers etc before I got hurt. Gritstone slap stuff.

Sheep Shifter sounds cool though! I'll give it a look. Cheers mate.

[Wellsy]

After doing a little bit of low and easy stuff today at the works, I dropped off at the height of about two feet, and my knee buckled a little, felt a bit crunchy too. And now it hurts a bit. So that's two weeks rehab down the drain probably. Lesson learned. I'll step off everything, no climbing or falling at all this week.

[Wellsy]

So tomorrow it'll have been 6 weeks

The knee is vastly better. I can run, jump, fall short distances, use it in almost all angles etc. There's a specifically weak angle and I can't fully bend it to sit on my heels, but other than that it feels and is almost back to full capacity.

Physio is now dynamic stuff and I suspect that within the next few weeks it'll be feeling fully healed. Good and positive progress. I think I'm probably lucky to be clearing up this fast and I'm not entirely sure why but I'd say potentially diet (loads of protein), rehab (I do it religiously) and maybe some genetics.

[Fiend]

Good effort. Almost exactly twice as quick as me 

(On the plus side I finally found I can restart doing basic cobbler pose today and work on my hip flexibility which has reverted from "inflexible gym thug" to "petrified rigid corpse" in the last few months.)

Make sure you still keep it steady. Like any injury, once you feel progress and more normality, the time is ripe to still keep it steady and not bugger it up by going too quickly in the later stages. I know, nag nag, suck eggs, etc etc.


P.s. How's the toy soldier and Elden Ring progress, more importantly??

[Wellsy]

Toy soldier and elden ring progress remains strong although sidelined in the last few days as I've been at an industrial/cybergoth festival and am in no fit state to do... well anything really

Progress being variable is something I've definitely realised but it's good that in general things are on the up and up. Glad your joints are now up to sufficient scratch that you work on flexibility! My knee can't bend fully yet but when it can I'll get back on that

[Wellsy]

So update; very positive really. I've been climbing outdoors on specifically suggested stuff where I can not impinge the knee and there's not far to fall. Made great progress on Beretta 7A+ which will go next session and the right leg heel hooks are fine. I've never done anything harder than that grade so its good to be out trying hard despite the injury.

Indoors I've been doing falling training and I can do controlled falls with my feet around head height no problem. I'm getting my confidence back at the top of easier stuff and the knee feels good when trying various moves. I'm avoiding sketchy footholds on verts and slabs just as I want to basically not be falling uncontrolled at all.

Training wise I've actually for the first time been able to reduce the angle of my elbow joint while locked off one armed, i.e part 1 of one-armers. This isn't particularly impressive but I'm proud of myself for training hard and making improvements during a period of injury

(Very short vid for the curious)

https://youtube.com/shorts/LMebWOS8EMo?feature=share

Also a big shout out to @BID who has been a fantastic climbing partner during a somewhat depressing experience. Couldn't ask for more!

[Catcheemonkey]

Wellsy - could you share a few details of the physio exercises you've been doing?

I sprained my MCL a few weeks ago and self-diagnosed a grade 1 injury. After 3 weeks I can walk OK, but my knee is nowhere near stable enough to go bouldering.

I've been doing body-weight squats and bottom stair step-downs as prescribed by Google, are their any other exercises that you think help?

[Fiend]

See my big dump post on page 1. Anything that doesn't involve sideways movement or stability testing.

[Wellsy]

Yep. And I'd say that there are a few points;

1) a physio is the best person to speak to about this

2) what is appropriate depends on the stage of recovery and extent of initial injury

3) that said I started with basic easing and stretching to get mobility, regular icing etc. Walking carefully. Then I went to doing one legged stands after a few weeks, bending over on one leg to pick something up, standing on one leg pressing above my head, etc. Then it was box squats, rack pulls, step ups on a box, quiet jumps after about 5 weeks etc. All in progression. But also I think you should get a physio to look at it.

[BID]

I'd second Wells on this.

Even if you go to see a physio for 1 session to get some starting point and then Google about it would be immensely valuable.

As its knees most physios should know their stuff, not like an A2 tear for example, so saving the 50 quid or whatever is a massive false economy.

Good luck!

[Catcheemonkey]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

[IanPeak]

Felt like posting here for comparison as i have been using this thread to compere my own recovery with a very similar injury and with the above post

i dislocated my knee climbing indoors around the 17th march some damage to alc and mcl but not full tears as far as i could tell a lot of meniscus and soft tissue damage

it was 3 days untill i could hold any weight on the leg and around a week untill i could kind of walk around in a leg brace/support from amazon

it was 3 weeks untill i went to the climbing gym recovery in this time was stretching to a level with no pain warm baths also helped with this and anti-inflammatory medication is your friend here. also a pro and con for me was working on a building site in this time so lots of movement to get the joint going again

for the next 3 weeks the only climbing related things i did where finger board 2 times a week

after 3 weeks i had a few very light sessions in the climbing gym climbing no harder than 6a and climbs where i knew there was a 0% chance of me falling off ( this made the leg feel a lot looser )

i followed this for 2 more weeks before climbing outside but this been said i am much more comfortable climbing outside in knowing when i am going to fall  and i have found that not climbing much inside has made me slightly weaker but this is almost saved by the fact my skin is fantastic for every time i go outside

i am now at around 7 weeks i am very careful of climbing inside still not really climbing anything harder than 6b when i go inside but outside i picked lower blocks less than 4 meters and have managed to send 2 x7a and 2x7a+ although one of each i would consider to be lower than the grade after climbing aswell as a fair amount of 6's

my main question for anyone who has recovered from knee injury's is how to test and improve impact strength at this stage of recovery like wellsy i am fine dropping straight from around feet at head hight but still have the odd tweak when stressing the leg side to side or with a fast twich movement

as the leg now feels not bad but the improvement seems to have slowed down a little

any insight and drills would be appreciated