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maculated
Nov 21, 2003, 6:42 AM
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Okay, it's happening again: maculated starts bouldering and climbing more regularly and her arm starts hurting.
Why is this woman related? Well . . . we chicks have looser tendons than the other sex, and this is a direct cause of my pain. I can literally pull all my joints out of their socket if I want to. If you ever meet me, ask me to do it. It's cool.
Anyway . . . it's back. The left and right arms are feeling odd after pulling on more steep or crimpy routes than usual for more days out of the week . . . happen to you? Advice?
I take joint supplements, eat plenty of bananas, and try not to overtrain, but the minute I start going climbing regularly, there it is, back again.
Sigh . . .
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debsanders
Nov 21, 2003, 2:51 PM
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Arms out of sockets, yuck.
I would find out from an MD if you are doing damage to your tendons, joints, muscles, ect . . . If you aren't and don't mind the odd feeling, problem solved. If you are doing damage then you have to weigh how climbing effects your long term health and if the negative consequences are worth it.
Deb
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granite_grrl
Nov 21, 2003, 3:01 PM
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Last winter when I was bouldering a lot on steeper stuff I tweaked a few tendons, the elbow a couple of times, and a finger. The oddest one was a tendon (or ligament or something) that ran from my elbow to shoulder. The actually injury was to my elbow but it hurt in my shoulder, took awhile to figure that one out.
I never thought about this as a woman specific thing. I know that my main problem was that the minute I had some free time from school and run over to the climbing gym and crank for a couple of hours. Of course by that time I was usually exhausted from school and that was probably the root cause of injury. This is my last semester and I want to go on a climbing road trip when I'm done, when I get to the gym right now I take it pretty easy.
Does this post help you at all, probably not. But I will ask you to dislocate your joints if I ever meet you. Maybe if you're doing all bouldering mix it up with more endurance route climbing. Any injury I've gotten has been from bouldering.
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maculated
Nov 21, 2003, 5:13 PM
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Good advice, folks. MD just told me that climbing is stupid for me and that Ishould lose weight. 20 pounds lost since then.
Bouldering sucks anyway. : P
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hstewart
Nov 21, 2003, 10:06 PM
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ARgh....I have this same problem. I consulted a personal trainer, whose explanation was that the movements required for climbing build your "pulling muscles" but not your "pushing muscles," which strains those smaller muscles and tendons that support your climbing muscles.
I've been working these smaller muscles for the past few months and have been noticing improvements.
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thegogirl
Nov 23, 2003, 3:30 AM
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injury and options depend on where the injury is....shoulder area you can do rotator cuff exercises with light weight specifically to assist that ball joint in the shoulder socket. (old climbing mag has it...will look for it) As far as the elbow area, pinches (large) and slopers usually tend to tweak tendinitis in the elbow...you may wish to look at stretching, some light weight exercises for those areas, as well as varying up bouldering/top rope and types of holds you boulder on..cycle around power,endurance, etc...so joints aren't specifically stressed.
(or joints are now equally stressed and you just spread out the pain! ack!)
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maculated
Nov 23, 2003, 4:02 AM
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Spreading the pain is so fun. I watched a comp all day and couldn't stop myself from doing a few of the problems . .. ouchie!
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calliope
Nov 23, 2003, 4:12 AM
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Don't think it's woman specific, but I did a number on the tendon that connects my ring finger of my right hand today. Hurt like a mother most of the day, but thankfully I was able to relax it and get some climbing in before we called it a day. I hadn't thought about the possiblity that being female would make certain injuries easier to obtain.
Do you do any specific warmups or stretches, Kristin, that ease the situation?
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maculated
Nov 23, 2003, 4:18 AM
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Yeah, I think I may have to actually start stretching now. I learned my fitness from football players in high school and you all are probably right about that taking a toll. BTW, yesterday's climbing partner had loose ligaments like mine. More so. But it was a GUY! Guess my problem isn't so woman specific!
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calliope
Nov 23, 2003, 4:39 AM
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Yeah, ironically, I don't normally stretch all that much, but because we had a first timer out with us today, I was showing her different stretches to do for her hands and forearms. So apparently, stretching actually causes injury. :roll:
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jabtocrag
Nov 24, 2003, 4:31 PM
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I stand by stretching 100%...not so much before climbing, as it can cause injury, but definately 20 - 30 minutes of it after I climb. As for preclimbing, just make sure you warm up properly on easy climbs.
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salami
Nov 25, 2003, 5:31 PM
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In reply to: ARgh....I have this same problem. I consulted a personal trainer, whose explanation was that the movements required for climbing build your "pulling muscles" but not your "pushing muscles," which strains those smaller muscles and tendons that support your climbing muscles. I've been working these smaller muscles for the past few months and have been noticing improvements.
hstewart is right on the money. I use to have to wear so much Icy/Hot that it made my eyes tear up and popped advil like Flinstone vitamins, until I figured out i needed to balance my muscles. That was over a year ago and I have had no problems since
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