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billyf
Feb 27, 2006, 3:23 PM
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do you know if climbers usually get arthritis there older ages :?:
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phaedrus
Feb 27, 2006, 3:29 PM
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phaedrus moved this thread from Suggestions, Questions & Feedback. to Injuries & Accidents.
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j_ung
Feb 27, 2006, 3:45 PM
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Billy, you'll get way better responses if you change to title to something relevant. :)
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dingus
Feb 27, 2006, 4:34 PM
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I seem to recall the answer is 'no.' Arthritus is not caused by overuse injuries. If a parent has it then you are far more likely to develop it as well, than the average bloke.
That's not to say all those little insults you do to your hands don't add up to chronic pain, restricted motion and a propensity to reinjury. I know it has with me!
But it isn't arthritus... its chronic over use injury.
DMT
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phaedrus
Feb 27, 2006, 6:11 PM
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Title changed by Phaedrus with permission of author.
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sspssp
Feb 27, 2006, 6:18 PM
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In reply to: I seem to recall the answer is 'no.' Arthritus is not caused by overuse injuries. If a parent has it then you are far more likely to develop it as well, than the average bloke.
It has a genetic component, but you can get it from injuries. I had a finger problem that I finally got x-rayed. It looked like a mouse had taken a small bite out of the second knuckle. The doctor described it as degenerative arthritis. My understanding was that if I had let it heal better before climbing regularly, it would not have degenerated as much.
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dingus
Feb 27, 2006, 6:39 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: I seem to recall the answer is 'no.' Arthritus is not caused by overuse injuries. If a parent has it then you are far more likely to develop it as well, than the average bloke. It has a genetic component, but you can get it from injuries. I had a finger problem that I finally got x-rayed. It looked like a mouse had taken a small bite out of the second knuckle. The doctor described it as degenerative arthritis. My understanding was that if I had let it heal better before climbing regularly, it would not have degenerated as much.
Does it run in your family? I'm sure climbing would excerbate it.
I specifically asked this q of my ortho while dealing with a concerning lump on the side of a knuckle and he said overuse injuries are not the cause of arthritus. I had to pay him a lot of dough for that opinion so I hope he's right!
Cheers
DMT
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freakboy
Feb 27, 2006, 6:47 PM
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I have no medical information to back-up this reply, however, a few of the older climbers that I climb with suffer from arthritis and they have indicated that climbing helps them maintain mobility in their hands. When they stop climbing for a while their arthritis starts to act up again...
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jgill
Feb 28, 2006, 4:20 AM
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Older climbers may indeed develop osteoarthritis. If you are lucky it will occur after many happy years on the rock, but it can appear earlier. Some gymnasts in their twenties are well on their way to degenerative disease.
I climbed and did some gymnastics for over 50 years before it caught up to me, and now I am exploring my last frontier as I experiment with how to deal with severe shoulder arthritis. Shoulder replacement does not seem to be a viable option for climbers. Gotta love that pain, baby!
I suspect more climbers will experience degenerative joint symptoms as time goes on, for the training techniques and very high difficulty standards of modern bouldering and sport climbing will take their toll. In this thread and others, younger climbers talk about difficulties with finger joints, wrists, and elbows - welcome to the tradeoff for superior efforts.
Of course, there will be some who will glide easily into middle age and old age with joints intact . . . those lucky bastards! 8^)
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curt
Feb 28, 2006, 4:34 AM
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In reply to: Older climbers may indeed develop osteoarthritis. If you are lucky it will occur after many happy years on the rock, but it can appear earlier. Some gymnasts in their twenties are well on their way to degenerative disease. I climbed and did some gymnastics for over 50 years before it caught up to me, and now I am exploring my last frontier as I experiment with how to deal with severe shoulder arthritis. Shoulder replacement does not seem to be a viable option for climbers. Gotta love that pain, baby! I suspect more climbers will experience degenerative joint symptoms as time goes on, for the training techniques and very high difficulty standards of modern bouldering and sport climbing will take their toll. In this thread and others, younger climbers talk about difficulties with finger joints, wrists, and elbows - welcome to the tradeoff for superior efforts. Of course, there will be some who will glide easily into middle age and old age with joints intact . . . those lucky bastards! 8^)
Which reminds me that I recently reread your article entitled Bouldering at 50, a Wayward Commitment. I find myself much in the same place now and just hope that injuries don't similarly manifest themselves and truncate my bouldering career.
Curt
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whoa
Feb 28, 2006, 4:44 AM
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Radiographic osteoarthritis in the hands of rock climbers.
Rohrbough JT, Mudge MK, Schilling RC, Jansen C.
Orthopedic Surgery, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tuscon, Arizona, USA.
Sixty-five rock climbers were radiographically evaluated for osteoarthritis of the finger joints. Only long-time climbers were chosen for this study. The average years of climbing experience of these subjects was 19.8 (range, 8 to 39). The majority of the subjects had climbed at an elite level for many years. Plain radiographs of the hands were scored using the Kellgren-Lawrence scale and were compared with scores of an age-matched control group. An increased rate of osteoarthritis for several joints was found in the climber group; however, no significant difference in the overall prevalence of osteoarthritis was found between the two groups.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...839957&dopt=Abstract
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billcoe_
Feb 28, 2006, 4:45 PM
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In reply to: Older climbers may indeed develop osteoarthritis. If you are lucky it will occur after many happy years on the rock, but it can appear earlier. Some gymnasts in their twenties are well on their way to degenerative disease. I climbed and did some gymnastics for over 50 years before it caught up to me, and now I am exploring my last frontier as I experiment with how to deal with severe shoulder arthritis. Shoulder replacement does not seem to be a viable option for climbers. Gotta love that pain, baby! I suspect more climbers will experience degenerative joint symptoms as time goes on, for the training techniques and very high difficulty standards of modern bouldering and sport climbing will take their toll. In this thread and others, younger climbers talk about difficulties with finger joints, wrists, and elbows - welcome to the tradeoff for superior efforts. Of course, there will be some who will glide easily into middle age and old age with joints intact . . . those lucky bastards! 8^)
Some musings:
As there are over 100 types of arthritis, it's safe to assume that climbing could cause one of them. However, think about 2 generations back. Generally, in the US, 95% or more of the population was relegated to doing hard unrelenting manual labor on farms. Stopping for a little pain might mean that your family starves, and they all seemed to get through it.
Now, with improved nutrition, voluntary exercises and modern medicine, we pretty much should have minimal concerns about arthritis and repetitive stress type of issues. As climbers we can (if we DESIRE) just stop the activity.
Should be interesting to see this develop moving forward.
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sspssp
Feb 28, 2006, 8:15 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: In reply to: I seem to recall the answer is 'no.' Arthritus is not caused by overuse injuries. If a parent has it then you are far more likely to develop it as well, than the average bloke. It has a genetic component, but you can get it from injuries. I had a finger problem that I finally got x-rayed. It looked like a mouse had taken a small bite out of the second knuckle. The doctor described it as degenerative arthritis. My understanding was that if I had let it heal better before climbing regularly, it would not have degenerated as much.Does it run in your family? I'm sure climbing would excerbate it. I specifically asked this q of my ortho while dealing with a concerning lump on the side of a knuckle and he said overuse injuries are not the cause of arthritus. I had to pay him a lot of dough for that opinion so I hope he's right! Cheers DMT
It doesn't run in my family. Also, you keep refering to overuse injury. Mine was definitely an acute injury that I didn't let fully heal, so it turned into a chronic injury. Not sure if that matters.
He also specifically said it was "degenerative" arthritis. Which I took to mean that it was different than "run-of-the-mill" arthritis, but I guess I don't really know that for a fact.
Maybe one of the doctors on this site will chime in.
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