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scotchie
Oct 30, 2007, 6:01 PM
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Registered: Jul 31, 2004
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I climbed for 3 years + an additional 2 years indoor climbing with no injuries, aches, or pains. But in the last I year I have developed: Pronation causing midtarsal fault Shoulder impingement causing bursitis Finger tendonitis I other words, pain in the feet, shoulder, and fingers. All these seem to be conditions I can manage but that don't go away completely. What's next? Nothing, I hope!!! Is there anything that can be done to prevent the next condition and stop the progression towards being completely broken? Weight Training? Stretching? Diet? Glucosamine? Other suggestions? I used to have more of a general-purpose training regiment (I lifted weights before I started climbing), but now I am mostly just climbing and hiking for fitness. Could that be the cause? Or could it be that before all these aches-and-pains started, I was only climbing 5.7-9 and now I am climbing 10's and 11's ? Is this just an inevitable part of getting older? Do I have to just deal with conditions as they develop? Of course, there's no way to know exactly which condition's I'll get next. But if there is a program to prevent the most common climbing-related injuries, then maybe I could improve my overall chances of staying injury-free.
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Lokie
Oct 31, 2007, 4:19 AM
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Registered: Mar 5, 2007
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I've noticed those things come on from climbing too hard too often. My finger joints swell pretty badly when I climb hard 3-4 days in a row, so I've taken to doing laps between hard climbing days. It's good for your climbing and, more (less?) importantly, it's good for your aches and pains.
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cameltoe
Oct 31, 2007, 3:51 PM
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Registered: Sep 13, 2006
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Hmm, Here's my advice, I have had all the above, and I am fully healed these days.. there is sadly a catch... they take a long time to fully heal - this is why climbers often get reccurence.. the thing is when your tendon stops hurting (3-4 wweks of non-climbing) it's not ready. you still need to wait a couple of weeks, then you go back for a period of very light climbing minimsing the use of the tendon in question - e.g. if it's a finger stick to big open handed holds.typically 3-4 weeks of this and you can begin to build back up .. it can take 4-5 months of very gentle treatment of the injury to really heal and only one day of stupidity to set you back to day one my worst case was my shoulder - it took 15 months to heal including 4 months of complete rest and pysiotherapy.. largely as i let it get out of hand. Not the news you wanted to hear I guess, but the older the body gets the longer all this can take... hope your tendons get better soon.. climb on! BB p.s. I climbed for 15-20 years before i got hurt - and it was all down to bouldering... hence i sold my beanie..
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vector
Oct 31, 2007, 4:13 PM
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Registered: Jul 13, 2004
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My advice (you will get what you paid for here) is geared towards minor injuries, not actual torn tendons and such. If you are dealing with chronic pain, I would recommend restricting your climbing to one notch below the level that triggers the pain, and do this for an extended period. So if it always hurts when you climb ~5.11 (overhanging vs. slab will make a diff. of course as will many other factors), limit the hardest routes to ~5.10 and see how that goes. I have decided to do this for the _entire season_ this year and the aches and pains still crop up occasionally but go away quickly with rest. My impression is that my ability to climb hard without pain is slowly and steadily improving. My theory is that the connective tissue takes a lot longer to get strong than your muscles or your abilities. It takes a lot of discipline to not climb your hardest while you build that strength, but you can focus on other things. For example, improving your lead head on trad, if you are into that, for most of us will involve climbing lower than our physical limit. Taking out beginners can be rewarding and you can learn from that too. And so on... Of course I am in no way medically trained. This is just what worked for me. Good luck!
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munky
Oct 31, 2007, 4:56 PM
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Registered: Apr 26, 2006
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Minor aches and pains are just part of the game once you've reached 25 or so. If you're not willing to endure the pain you're probably not cut out to be a serious climber. They don't call seasoned climbers hardmen for nothing. If your are experiencing continual debilitating pain then its probably time to take a break. Enjoy another sport for awhile that limits that amount of use of the injured area. Or be a lazy fat ass and indulge in sport drinking or traditional piggin out. :) Maybe not the best strategy to follow but fun as hell. My experience is that many times my shoulder will feel tweaked, or lower back strained, elbows a little tender, etc. and I just climb through it. It usually heals up over time and generally works its self out. The key is to listen to your body and to know your body well enough to make a smart decision. Fingers are a total different story. When tendons start feeling "crunchy" its best to rest for a few days. Because a torn or pulled tendon is a serous matter that many climbers never fully recover from. Luckily I've never torn or really pulled a tendon but have definitely tweaked them. When they feel tweaked it is not the time to session that day. Nor is it time to do some lite campusing, or a hangboard workout. Maybe some easy cragging a few grades below your level (ie. 5.12 onsighter drops down to 5.9 laps) Finally, my experience is that stretching is invaluable, warming up is very effective in preventing injuries, and finally limiting the amount of time climbing in the gym compared with outside is crucial. Gym climbing=on the road to injury. Hopefully this helps. I'm no doctor, nor do I profess to be know anymore than the average Joe Shmo but this is what my personal experiences have taught me.
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aerili
Oct 31, 2007, 6:14 PM
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Registered: Jan 13, 2006
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The answer to your question, Scott, is that there is no clear cut answer. Mainly because there are too many variables involved over time (and they are not all contributing at the same time) and we can’t track anything specific. However, I can give you my best theories: • You are not that old, but still you are ageing and in the process accumulating the forces from climbing upon your body over time, so yes, your age probably has something to do with it. • It is very likely you have developed some compensations; perhaps they existed before you started climbing or perhaps climbing caused them or perhaps climbing merely reinforced them (I can do some postural assessments and flexibility tests on you next time I see you if you like), but many chronic injuries result from two patterns of faulty movement: lower crossed syndrome and upper crossed syndrome. Not to mention I know your job probably isn’t helping you in this regard, too. • Resistance training and proper stretching is often the key to prevention of injury and rehabilitation of existing injury. But part of it is also figuring out if you also have something called reciprocal inhibition in certain muscles (this is related to the ‘crossed’ syndromes I described above). If you do, it’s hard to institute resistance training on a muscle group that simply isn’t firing properly (i.e. has decreased neural input so the nervous system has a hard time telling the muscle to do what it’s supposed to). Find your underactive (neurally inhibited) muscles and your overactive (neurally overstimulated) muscles and treat accordingly while developing a strategy for preventive resistance training. I might be able to help you do this and/or send you to someone I know who can. • Your foot and shoulder injuries could well be unrelated to climbing, or climbing was only one of many factors involved in developing the conditions. In fact, I would hedge that your pronation existed long before you got your foot injury or started climbing. But again, this points to working on biomechanical issues resulting from crossed syndromes most likely. Many chronic injuries are years in the making. • I know you’re climbing in the gym and pulling on plastic is quite likely aggravating your finger and shoulder problems (someone else mentioned this). Switching to a regular gym might be more beneficial for you. Info on upper and lower crossed syndrome: http://erikdalton.com/...0crossed%20syndromes
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