[Danny]

Well, I was on these forums a while back whinging on about my trio of chronic a2 injuries, just wishing the bastards would snap.
Today at the wall the a2 on my right ring finger went snap, much to the dismay of all those in earshot. That’s this year's trip to font shafted.
But anyway, I’d like to know if anyone else has had to deal with a full pulley rupture and, if so, what kind of timeframe for recovery am I looking at? Is there any way I can help the process in terms of exercises and so on?

Thanks all.

[erm, sam]

Ouch, sounds nasty. Fortunatly (for me) I don't know anything about this particular injury.. Hope your recovery goes as quickly as possible..

[Danny]

Thanks. Luckily (?) I'm pretty used to this get injured / recover / get more injured game.

[Timatron]

The pretty diagrams of pulleys you get in the books don't quite show the full picture.  Pulleys are just the thicker parts of a sheath which goes all the way round each finger and it's unlikely you'll rupture it the whole way up.  Of course it might be tendon tear, but I can't tell without testing it.

Anyway, that's just me being a pedant.  The usual tricks will work for both.  Rest.  But don't forget you can still train the other fingers, your arms, slab technique etc.  I've just rested after a major tendon tear but continued training everything else and am now recovered and much stronger than ever.  Ice for the next week or so, then heat, contrast bathing etc.  Try friction massage, or ultrasound, it might have an effect.  Then get back on it as soon as the pain allows, but take it easy or it'll get worse.

All the best,

your friendly physio.

[neil h]

i did mine about 2 years ago. and It has only just recovered to 100% the best thing is to have a lot of time off which I didnt do, then take it easy for a few months after, something else i didnt do. I wish I had


all the best   

[Johnny Brown]

I've done this on both ring fingers.
The first I did in may, rested a lot, took most of the summer off, it healed very slowly, painful for a long time.
The second I did on the first day of a week in font in November. I climbed the rest of the week with it taped up, openhanded obviously, let go pretty much whenever I felt pain. Had a great week in the end, free from the pressure of chasing hard problems, and I don't like crimping anyway. Highlights were touching the top of L'angle Parfait and doing L'angle incarne. But I digress.
When I got back I had a couple of sessions of acupuncture, kept climbing all winterand within a couple of months pretty much forgot about it.
Now if a finger hurts when crimping its the older of the two injuries. Now the first could have been a much worse rupture but I regret not climbing on it.
I'd say have some needlework done, keep climbing as much as possible (with it taped up slightly bent) all openhanded. But I'm no expert, ymmv

[clm]

they can pop without fully rupturing.  Some fibres get damaged/inflamed.  do as suggested above.

[Danny]

Thanks for the advice all.

It sounds like climbing in moderation ASAP is the way to go, obviously depending on how much it hurts. Has anyone used this thera-putty they talk about at climbinginjuries.com?

 As for the question as to whether its the tendon or the sheath, I always thought a good rule of thumb was this: If pain is localised in the crimp position-its the pulley, if pain is felt more when openhanding-its the tendon.