[Gritlad]

hi. i've noticed that when climbing I prefer open handing edges and such like as apposed to crimping edges.
when crimping on small edges ( like typical welsh rock sharp positive sort of edges) i find that my first joint ( the one im calling closest to your fingernails) particully on the middle finger feels sensitive or sometimes sore if i have to pull hard on it or have pulled on it alot.
I presume that due to the less crimpy nature of gritstone of which i climb alot on i have become more inclined to open handing holds so that when trying to crimp stuff my fingers arnt used to it so feel sore and so on.
Any advice on how to specifically target strengthing my weak crimping and not injure myself?
dont really want to do any fingerboarding.
cheers

[slackline]

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[Nibile]

when crimping hard on positive edges, skin pain can be an issue. a tougher skin could help.
if this is not your case, I'd suggest to boulder on crimpy stuff if you don't want to fingerboard.
I think, though, that fingerboarding is safer to train crimps and fingers in general, because when climbing you are never sure to get a hold perfectly, your fingers can have very different loads and angles due to the shape of the holds, and if you really want to complete the problem (like on rock) injury can be a result.
on the fingerboard you are sure your fingers get an even load, and you can progressively increase the effort with less risk (unless you start doing pull ups).

[tc]

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[Gritlad]

cheers for the replies. thinking about it fingerboarding seems a more logical way of doing it as you explained nible due to the loading of the fingers of rock. think it could be downright weakness too, 7A on grit most days, 6Bish on other rock most days. hhmmm

[Monolith]

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tc speaks no evil. Try Pex Hill when it's in nick. You'll enjoy it and get a crimp workout in the process.

Though you say you don't really want to do any fingerboarding it's always worth doing and you'll notice good gains from the use of one.

[shark]

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tc speaks no evil. Try Pex Hill when it's in nick. You'll enjoy it and get a crimp workout in the process.

Though you say you don't really want to do any fingerboarding it's always worth doing and you'll notice good gains from the use of one.

I think Gritlad lives in Grindleford but going to the Tor, Minus10 and Rubicon more should do it

[SOH]

I have also noticed this pain in the exact same joint, particularly on my left (weaker) hand. I too have usually preferred open handing holds rather than crimping, but I’m finding myself in more situations were a crimp has to be used over open handing, as a result my crimp grip is now quite a weakness.

Has anyone else ever experienced this joint pain? Is this just something you have to get through and eventually it’ll pass? I find I experience no pain while climbing but after a warm down the joints are very stiff and achey and usually lasts a day or two. I’ve been trying some exercises recently to see if they will help (the old elastic band around the outside of the fingers and thumb then extending) to strengthen the opposing muscles. Would training crimps on a finger help this joint pain or exasperate it?

[Pebblespanker]

Also get joint pain in the 2nd joint of my LH ring finger - after some debate on here (see the recent thread about odd finger tweak) the view was it's likely to be either collateral ligament or cartlidge?  not sure how I did it but its been around on/off for while now - oddly when full crimping I don't get pain, but half crimps are a different matter as are pinches where the fingers are slightly bent at the 2nd joint... fine on Open Hand stuff too - tis a bugger tis.

The pain is just below the joint, I have found that an Ibuprofen tablet helps post-training if there is excessive soreness to reduce the inflamation like last night but this is a personal choice and I don't want to reccomend something that may be dubious 

Am going to try a week or two of icing and see if it helps ... will let you know