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callie104
Mar 20, 2011, 3:48 AM
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I've been climbing for 3 months, almost every day at an indoor gym and a few outdoor trips. I have absolutely fallen in love with it and am already doing V3s and 5.10s.
However, recently (and a few times sporadically since I started climbing, usually after a really hard workout), I have a dull pain right above the inside of my elbow. My boyfriend, who's been climbing 3 or 4 years, says it's a tendon problem.
I was wondering what I can do to help this ASAP, other than taking a few days off. I love climbing so much and it's such a great outlet for me that I really don't like the idea of taking more than a few days off, but I don't want to push the strain to the point of an injury that will take months to heal.
Thanks for any advice.
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rnevius
Mar 20, 2011, 4:45 AM
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Three logical choices:
1. Cut the arm off
2. Use one good arm to climb (which may lead to overuse of that good arm)
3. Realize that a week or so of rest is less than months or years due to a major injury. What does a couple of days really mean in relation to a lifetime?
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shockabuku
Mar 20, 2011, 10:47 AM
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Decrease the intensity of your climbing for a month or two. It sounds like tendonitis/osis. This problem seems to be aggravated by very difficult climbing (bouldering/campusing). Tone down to moderate (for you) route climbing and it'll probably fade away.
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gblauer
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Mar 20, 2011, 1:17 PM
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Do a search on overuse injuries...climbing in the gym every day when you are a beginner is only going to lead to injuries. Tendon injuries take forever to heal, so once you have one, you are going to be sidelined for a long time.
My suggestion...train a whole lot smarter. There is a ton of information on this site about training as a beginner. If you don't like this site, get "The Self Coached Climber".
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rtwilli4
Mar 20, 2011, 2:47 PM
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The short version: You are climbing too much, probably with poor (beginner) technique which over strains your body, and you have developed tendonitis(osis). All climbers deal with this injury at some point, many of them for the same reasons as you. It's an easily fixed problem.
+1 for The Self Coached Climber. It had more of an impact on my climbing that I ever though a book could have. I was already onsighting 5.11 when I read it and I got a few chapters in and realized that I knew next to nothing about proper movement!
A year later I'm climbing harder and moving much better... and I'm reading it again just to polish up some stuff.
You'll have to adapt the training to fit you, but it gives you a good base of knowledge. You'll learn about how to train, and how to REST. You can climb super hard while only climbing 3 or 4 days a week if you do it right. That might not sound fun to you now, but 4 days a week and staying healthy is better than 6 days a week followed by an injury.
Nine out of ten climbers... by Dave MacLeod is also excellent, and explains in even more detail how to rest, stay healthy, and climb for years and years w/o injury.
Finally, if you do some research there are a lot of excercises that you can do to help your elbow. The pronation/supination excercise w/ a hammer or long stick helps me elbow, as well as a lot of stretching.
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bootlegger
Mar 21, 2011, 8:47 PM
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Just a word of caution after fighting with a torn tendon in one elbow (surgically re-attached) and tendonitis in the other elbow - tendon injuries take FOREVER to heal. A few days off isn't going to solve the problem. Back off the hard stuff, do the recommended exercises but take it really slow and easy for a couple of months. Really good advice above about technique. Use this as a wake up call to rely on technique rather than strength! And be patient on the recovery. Tendon recoveries (if that's your problem, and you're certainly describing the typical symptons) are measured in months, not days....
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Pres
Mar 21, 2011, 9:50 PM
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Listening to people here is cool, but in all honesty see an orthopedic and get an MRI if needed. I've torn Te cartilage on my ribs more than once and a few days off won't help. I've also injured my wrist about 4/5 months ago, I'm just now getting over the pain and I don't have 100% confidence in it. See a doctor if you are in pain, at worst it's a co-pay and peace of mind.
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onceahardman
Mar 21, 2011, 11:12 PM
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Pres wrote: Listening to people here is cool, but in all honesty see an orthopedic and get an MRI if needed. I've torn Te cartilage on my ribs more than once and a few days off won't help. I've also injured my wrist about 4/5 months ago, I'm just now getting over the pain and I don't have 100% confidence in it. See a doctor if you are in pain, at worst it's a co-pay and peace of mind.
This is a really poor post.
An MRI will show the anatomy pretty well. It will NOT necessarily tell you what is causing the pain. Google "MRI false positive"
What happened to your rib cartilage (what is Te cartilage?) is completely irrelevant to an elbow injury-likewise your wrist injury.
"At worst it's a copay and piece of mind?" really? I'd say at worst it is an unnecessary surgery or a missed diagnosis.
Maybe I'm just jaded by some of the bad doctor behavior I've witnessed lately. Doctors don't know everything, and surgeons are paid to cut people open. They make a lot more money cutting than referring to PT.
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Pres
Mar 22, 2011, 1:18 PM
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onceahardman wrote: Pres wrote: Listening to people here is cool, but in all honesty see an orthopedic and get an MRI if needed. I've torn Te cartilage on my ribs more than once and a few days off won't help. I've also injured my wrist about 4/5 months ago, I'm just now getting over the pain and I don't have 100% confidence in it. See a doctor if you are in pain, at worst it's a co-pay and peace of mind. This is a really poor post. An MRI will show the anatomy pretty well. It will NOT necessarily tell you what is causing the pain. Google "MRI false positive" What happened to your rib cartilage (what is Te cartilage?) is completely irrelevant to an elbow injury-likewise your wrist injury. "At worst it's a copay and piece of mind?" really? I'd say at worst it is an unnecessary surgery or a missed diagnosis. Maybe I'm just jaded by some of the bad doctor behavior I've witnessed lately. Doctors don't know everything, and surgeons are paid to cut people open. They make a lot more money cutting than referring to PT.
You are jaded, and have taken this out of context - you seriously even made it a point to single out a misspelled word.... If you have a personal gripe with western medicine then that's on you. An MRI is useful, if you go to a hack&slash and don't want to be cut then get a second opinion. You obviously missed the part where I mentioned my wrist. The connection between the rib and the tendon is that it's not muscle and it will take forever to heal, and the most that can be done outside of PT is rest. At the end of the day I'm not a Dr. and all I can do is say try to get a professional to look at it. You're not going to pull into PF Changs and ask how to top dead center your cam shaft, would you?
(This post was edited by Pres on Mar 22, 2011, 1:20 PM)
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onceahardman
Mar 22, 2011, 3:44 PM
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In reply to: You are jaded,
As I said.
In reply to: and have taken this out of context -
Well, I specifically quoted the text of your post-thus providing 100% context. Nothing I said is out of context, pretty much by definition.
In reply to: you seriously even made it a point to single out a misspelled word....
It was unclear that "Te" cartilage was misspelled...Since you went through the trouble of capitalizing it, I thought perhaps it was something I had not heard of. I still don't know what you misspelled.
In reply to: If you have a personal gripe with western medicine then that's on you. An MRI is useful, if you go to a hack&slash and don't want to be cut then get a second opinion.
I work in mainstream western medicine. My only personal gripes are when practitioners show confidence in things which are poorly supported by research (39% false positive rate for herniated lumbar disc in MRI, which is then used to justify lumbar surgery with hardware implementation, for example), and when practitioners fail to admit that western medicine clearly treats some health problems poorly (chronic pain, for instance).
In reply to: You obviously missed the part where I mentioned my wrist.
Nope. I even commented on it.
In reply to: The connection between the rib and the tendon is that it's not muscle
Muscle and tendon are two parts of the same thing.
In reply to: and it will take forever to heal, and the most that can be done outside of PT is rest.
For almost every condition, a good PT will provide a home exercise program, to be done, "outside of PT".
In reply to: At the end of the day I'm not a Dr. and all I can do is say try to get a professional to look at it.
I agree.
In reply to: You're not going to pull into PF Changs and ask how to top dead center your cam shaft, would you?
http://www.answers.com/topic/non-sequitur
(This post was edited by onceahardman on Mar 22, 2011, 3:50 PM)
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Pres
Mar 22, 2011, 3:52 PM
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You have entirely too much time on your hands. I hope you reply and enjoy reading the rest of my response that will not happen because arguing with a troll is pointless.
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aerili
Mar 22, 2011, 11:53 PM
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Pres wrote: You have entirely too much time on your hands. I hope you reply and enjoy reading the rest of my response that will not happen because arguing with a troll is pointless.
While your intentions were good in your original post, the reality is oahm just knows more than you in this regard. Sorry.
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Pres
Mar 23, 2011, 2:23 AM
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If that is your opinion cool, but the point wasn't about who knew more, it was about someone taking it on themselves to make a self righteous rant about a suggestion.
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onceahardman
Mar 23, 2011, 10:38 AM
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Sorry for the grouchiness.
Thanks for your opinion.
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