Neel Parikh

Finger Injuries are as common to climbing as harnesses and rope, and I’ve been unlucky enough to have experienced a few of them of varying severity dating back to when I started climbing more seriously a fews years ago. My strength and technique were becoming respectable, I was feeling great, thinking that I would finally be able to get on some of those inspiring climbs that I had always wanted to try…. and then, BAM, I’m out for the count. It made me think… hmm.. maybe it wasn’t just a matter of being unlucky, but moreso a matter of recognizing the signs of imminent injury, utilizing proper pre and post-session stretching exercises, and treating symptoms before they got worse. Before anyone rants at me, I’ll say that I am by no means qualified to give any advice and that you should seek professional training and/or treatment, blah blah blah. Treat this as some bookmarks, and a bit of personal experience that you might find useful in prevention and treatment of finger injuries.

I actually started writing this post about a year and a half ago, after returning from another trip to the Red, where I pretty much sucked, due to what I assume was an A4 pulley injury. It seemed like every time I trained hard for trips, I’d end up with finger injuries and not actaully get to enjoy the trips – I’ve since learned that it was a combination of my training, overuse, and simply not treating the injuries properly and thus never allowing them to heal.

If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you know me, and not because you randomly googled “finger injuries” … if you did, you’re much more likely to end up finding a fantastic article written by Dave MacLeod on this exact subject. So rather than saying exactly what he said, but in my own, less scientific, less eloquent way, I’ll comment on a few things that have worked for me:

Rest:
Yes, it’s hard to stop doing someting you love, but tendon injuries take a while to heal. In all honesty, it wasn’t until I had an appendectomy and was forced to take 5 weeks off climbing that I actually felt like my finger had come close to a fully recovery. If you’re like me and just can’t stay away from the rock/plastic, at least be sensible about it:

• Cut out the hangboard training for a few weeks, particularly campusing.
• Avoid climbing anything too crimpy.
• Try to look at the brighter side of things. I used it as an opportunity to work on two things that I was particularly weak at: footwork, and slopers. Both have improved drastically as a result.

Tape:
There’s a lot of conflicting thoughts on whether or not taping helps. Some say it does absolutely nothing and is just a placebo with no purpose other than preventing flappers. Personally, I find that it helps significantly, but shouldn’t be over used. I would tape firmly for support to the pulley, but also overlap slightly onto the distal joint to prevent me from overcrimping. The other added benefit was that the tape would provide an extra layer of protection from any sharp rock/holds directly poking into the inflammed area.

I find that there comes a point in your recovery where tape will either do nothing, or end up causing more harm than good – By continuously taping and helping stabilize the finger, you may actually be preventing the tendons from developing this strength and stability themselves. In my case, I just knew when it was time to stop taping.

Anti-inflammatories:
Inflammation is the body’s way of dealing with injury, but when it becomes chronic, it’s likely doing more harm than good. Ice is always the go-to remedy for me – not only does it feel great, but it helps keep swelling down, and promotes blood flow. Oh, and it’s basically free.

I’ve had a limited experience with topical anti-inflammatories like Pennsaid and Voltaren, and the only thing that I can say is that they don’t tend to be particularly effective unless you use them a few times a day – putting Voltaren on an injury once a night isn’t going to help – you need to be hitting it every 4 hours or so.

Prevention:
Tendons aren’t like muscles, they take a long time to build up, and can be injured ridiculously easily, particularly with new climbers whose fingers have not been previously exposed to the kind of force that the sport often entails. When they DO get injured, they can take weeks or months to recover, so your best bet is to cut them some slack and try to keep them healthy. If you’re just starting out, ditch the hangboard. For beginners (and actually for almost anyone), the best training for climbing, is climbing. period. You don’t need finger specific training to pull on some 5.7s in a gym, it’s just an injury waiting to happen. The same goes for campus training – it’s a great tool for training for advanced climbing, but pretty unnecessary until you reach levels where finger strength and campus style movement is holding you back. That being said, if you are hangboarding, campusing, or just climbing hard, warm up! I see way too many “kids” walk into the gym, throw on a harness and start working on their 5.12 project or head straight for the training room. Climbing or training hard on cold fingers and muscles is just a bad idea… do an easy (V0-) 30-50 move traverse, then sit down and stretch out those muscles and fingers. Your body will thank you, and you’ll likely find that your fingers work so much better once they have some blood flow going. Even if I’m not training, I’ll still start my day with a route at least 3 full grades below my redpoint max, and work my way up. If adding 2-3 “easy” routes to your session over-tires you, then I dont think think finger strength should be your primary concern.

Other resources:
Here’s a few helpful pages – if you have any other recommended reading, please feel free to comment and I’ll add them to the list.

• Dave Macleod
• Eric Horst (some good diagrams here)
• ClimbingInjuries.com
• Finger Stretches (video)
• Hand Exercises