[ghisino]

sorry if it's a double - a quick search gave no results thogh.

i was wondering if there's any "magic" diet or supplement that helps speed up recovery of finger troubles/prevent new ones, other than "drinking a lot" and glucosamine-chondroitin supplements, and not considering the obvious positive impact of dropping a considerable amount of weight...

thanks, g
(bored and with a still hurting ring finger)

[Mike Tyson]

Sounds like we are in the same boat, welcome! My ring finger on my left hand is jiggered, I also need to drop some weight. We are leading parralel lives. 

[Paul B]

I do believe hydration can be a factor but I haven't a clue where that came from.

[cofe]

i monitor my tea/coffee intake (i don't cut it out) and make sure i drink plenty of water/dilute pop in the day. i also don't climb if i'm a bit tired or think i'm dehydrated (e.g. after a weekend of fun etc). if you're pissing treacle, you're not drinking enough water.

[SA Chris]

Wonder if some oily fish would be of benefit? Healthy to eat anyway.

[Mike Tyson]

Have been toying with trying some oily fish, any recommendations Chris? I eat a lot of tuna at present.

[ghisino]

I do believe hydration can be a factor but I haven't a clue where that came from.

i'm pretty convinced about it, or at least, for me, there seems to be a correlation between sweating a lot, not drinking enough, and getting injuried.

on the other hand i've already surprised myself by "suviving" perfect injury recipes (eg full crimp, cranked arm, foot slide off suddenly) on colder days, when i tend to drink quite a lot anyway.

[Dolly]

Don't know if you smoke but that can be very detrimental.
Doc last week told me that up to 80% of blood supply to ends of fingers can be reduced by a cigarette.
He'd done a 6 hour op to reconnect a severed finger - sewing arteries and the like. Told the guy importance of not smoking. Guy goes outside, has 2 fags and next day his finger is off again

Obviously the opposite "good" side to that is that no climbing exercise will increase bloodflow etc

[SA Chris]

Have been toying with trying some oily fish, any recommendations Chris? I eat a lot of tuna at present.

I don't think tuna is regarded as an oily fish, unless you get it in sunflower oil

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,15070.0.html

If you can't catch it yourself, I really like the packets of filleted peppered stuff from the supermarket, got a great recipe for red pepper risotto which is really nice with it.

[ghisino]

Don't know if you smoke but that can be very detrimental.

i do, but luckily not enough tobacco to get me addicted. 

on top of that i'm supposed to be on a "clean up a bit" period anyway 

[Lund]

Where's Serpico?  Need to steal his phrase... we need some SCIENCE. 

What's wrong with your finger?

If you need to grow more cartilage to fix the joint for example, then I would say that probably smoking means nothing, as there's no direct blood supply into cartilage.  Also, it's very hard to grow more.

Searching for stuff relating to diet reveals very little.  It recovers and grows through formation of fibrocartilage.  Studies show that if rats and rabbits eat lots of dry shit then the cartilage in their jaws gets better as they need to chew more.  Those with a soft diet don't need to chew as much and hence repair is very slow.

So... not sure we can say whether glucosamine (no proven benefit), water, not smoking, etc. is beneficial.  But wiggling it probably is.  Oh, and if you're a horse, apparently not enough copper is bad shit.

Now, if its the tendon rather than a damaged joint, I have no idea.  You're probably fucked. 

Definitely don't do any yoga.