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Kartessa
Aug 29, 2012, 4:34 AM
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I never thought it would happen to me... I'm weak, I'm a chicken, I never pull hard... but it did. I got a finger injury. I was at a friend's house-warming party the other day and after everyone consumed some "adult party beverages" we got down to his workout room and there were the rock rings. The challenge was to do the 2-finger pull-up. I've done them before, no problem, but this time was different. On the way back down there was a loud POP that the whole room could hear. A pain shot through my palm and wrist and forearm, and my ring finger eventually swelled. Now the swelling is gone, and I can move the finger no problem, open the hand, close the hand, it all works. The only catch is when I go to make a fist, the centre of my palm makes me want to cry little girl tears of pain. This is like 42x worse than a skinned knee. Anybody have a booboo like mine? Will a kiss from my mommy and a colourful bandaid fix it? To add insult to (alleged) injury, I leave friday for a 3 week trip of camping, hiking, and yes: climbing. Oh the huge manatee!!!
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curt
Aug 29, 2012, 6:10 AM
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Kartessa wrote: I never thought it would happen to me... I'm weak, I'm a chicken, I never pull hard... but it did. I got a finger injury. I was at a friend's house-warming party the other day and after everyone consumed some "adult party beverages" we got down to his workout room and there were the rock rings. The challenge was to do the 2-finger pull-up. I've done them before, no problem, but this time was different. On the way back down there was a loud POP that the whole room could hear. A pain shot through my palm and wrist and forearm, and my ring finger eventually swelled. Now the swelling is gone, and I can move the finger no problem, open the hand, close the hand, it all works. The only catch is when I go to make a fist, the centre of my palm makes me want to cry little girl tears of pain. This is like 42x worse than a skinned knee. Anybody have a booboo like mine? Will a kiss from my mommy and a colourful bandaid fix it? To add insult to (alleged) injury, I leave friday for a 3 week trip of camping, hiking, and yes: climbing. Oh the huge manatee!!! Unfortunately, it sounds like you ruptured (or partially ruptured) one of your tendon pulleys for your ring finger. The popping sound is a pretty definitive indicator for that type of injury. Climbing with an injury of that type is not a good idea--and will only serve to prolong the healing process. Perhaps onceahardman or aerili can add more. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news--and good luck with it. Curt
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potreroed
Aug 29, 2012, 1:45 PM
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Murphy strikes again!
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jeepnphreak
Aug 29, 2012, 3:16 PM
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Ice it warm it and drink a beer a day. http://www.totallyliving.co.uk/...-time-improved-by-dr Give it as much rest as you can. you may benifit from lighty doing a frep of 10 hand open/closes each day to keep things limber, bo weight. if it still bothering you by the time your climbing trip date, take it super easy and maby tape the crap out of the finger if you do decide to still climb, but take it easy. If after a month if its bugging you, a docter might be in order.
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notapplicable
Aug 29, 2012, 4:31 PM
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Damn dude, thats shity timing. Hopefully it's not as bad as it sounds. Good luck.
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lena_chita
Moderator
Aug 29, 2012, 4:51 PM
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That sucks! First stage of any climber injury: denial. It doesn't hurt all that bad, ONLY when I do X, Y or Z, otherwise, it is TOTALLY pain-free. So i can probably climb, as long as I don't do X Y Z, and how often would I ever do XYZ when climbing?I can totally climb, just take it easy and avoid that stuff... I am sorry... the timing really sucks!
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Fred20
Aug 29, 2012, 5:20 PM
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mine wasn't a pop, but a snap...i could do everything you are saying except move my middle finger laterally (which really hurt my knuckle) and it felt like i had a nail in my palm. Upon x-ray it was a spiral fracture of the 3rd metacarpal...that was 6 weeks ago 3 weeks in cast, 3 weeks in splint... i couldn't use the hand to open a water bottle for 4 weeks, but now i'm back to pull-ups and dead hangs, mine snapped a few days before trip to Yosemite which i ended up cancelling See a Dr. ! The pain wasn't bad for me, was glad it broke the bone and no ligament damage, lucky IMO
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redlude97
Aug 29, 2012, 5:45 PM
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curt wrote: Kartessa wrote: I never thought it would happen to me... I'm weak, I'm a chicken, I never pull hard... but it did. I got a finger injury. I was at a friend's house-warming party the other day and after everyone consumed some "adult party beverages" we got down to his workout room and there were the rock rings. The challenge was to do the 2-finger pull-up. I've done them before, no problem, but this time was different. On the way back down there was a loud POP that the whole room could hear. A pain shot through my palm and wrist and forearm, and my ring finger eventually swelled. Now the swelling is gone, and I can move the finger no problem, open the hand, close the hand, it all works. The only catch is when I go to make a fist, the centre of my palm makes me want to cry little girl tears of pain. This is like 42x worse than a skinned knee. Anybody have a booboo like mine? Will a kiss from my mommy and a colourful bandaid fix it? To add insult to (alleged) injury, I leave friday for a 3 week trip of camping, hiking, and yes: climbing. Oh the huge manatee!!! Unfortunately, it sounds like you ruptured (or partially ruptured) one of your tendon pulleys for your ring finger. The popping sound is a pretty definitive indicator for that type of injury. Climbing with an injury of that type is not a good idea--and will only serve to prolong the healing process. Perhaps onceahardman or aerili can add more. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news--and good luck with it. Curt While I agree the pop usually indicates a pulley rupture, the pain in the palm would also indicate possibly a flexor or lumbrical pull in addition to a pulley
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onceahardman
Aug 29, 2012, 9:29 PM
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redlude97 wrote: curt wrote: Kartessa wrote: I never thought it would happen to me... I'm weak, I'm a chicken, I never pull hard... but it did. I got a finger injury. I was at a friend's house-warming party the other day and after everyone consumed some "adult party beverages" we got down to his workout room and there were the rock rings. The challenge was to do the 2-finger pull-up. I've done them before, no problem, but this time was different. On the way back down there was a loud POP that the whole room could hear. A pain shot through my palm and wrist and forearm, and my ring finger eventually swelled. Now the swelling is gone, and I can move the finger no problem, open the hand, close the hand, it all works. The only catch is when I go to make a fist, the centre of my palm makes me want to cry little girl tears of pain. This is like 42x worse than a skinned knee. Anybody have a booboo like mine? Will a kiss from my mommy and a colourful bandaid fix it? To add insult to (alleged) injury, I leave friday for a 3 week trip of camping, hiking, and yes: climbing. Oh the huge manatee!!! Unfortunately, it sounds like you ruptured (or partially ruptured) one of your tendon pulleys for your ring finger. The popping sound is a pretty definitive indicator for that type of injury. Climbing with an injury of that type is not a good idea--and will only serve to prolong the healing process. Perhaps onceahardman or aerili can add more. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news--and good luck with it. Curt While I agree the pop usually indicates a pulley rupture, the pain in the palm would also indicate possibly a flexor or lumbrical pull in addition to a pulley This , redlude, is exactly what I was thinking. Perhaps the most reliable clinical sign of pulley injury is pain when loading a finger in a crimp position, i.e., flexed PIP and extended DIP. In general, forearm pain tends to speak more of flexor tendon injury (Flexor digitorum profundus) and palm of the hand tends toward lumbrical. None of these is terribly reliable as a diagnosis by itself, though. Imaging would help (MRI).
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Gmburns2000
Aug 30, 2012, 2:05 AM
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that blows. sorry to hear about it. hopefully it heals quickly and you're not burdened by the driving, too.
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SylviaSmile
Aug 31, 2012, 4:47 AM
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I hope I never hear a loud POP coming from one of my tendons . . . Get well soon! Ice and pray.
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Kartessa
Aug 31, 2012, 3:43 PM
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Well it's been a week and my booboo is still feeling rather owie. I'm leaving today for the road trip. The climbing we had planned for Monday has been replaced with sea kayaking the worlds highest tides. Not quite as awesome, but it will have to do. The next planned climbing is a week later in Newfoundland... Fuck everything, I can't miss this.
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chadnsc
Aug 31, 2012, 3:50 PM
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Kartessa wrote: Well it's been a week and my booboo is still feeling rather owie. I'm leaving today for the road trip. The climbing we had planned for Monday has been replaced with sea kayaking the worlds highest tides. Not quite as awesome, but it will have to do. The next planned climbing is a week later in Newfoundland... Fuck everything, I can't miss this. Sorry to hear about this Dina. I'm even more sorry to have to tell you that an injury like yours takes 3-6 months to heal. (oncehardman correct me if I'm wrong) Every time you 'test' the injury and feel more pain the healing time starts over from zero. I know this sucks, I've been through it myself but you can't really climb for three months then it's another three months of slowly working back into climbing. At lest that's the way it was for me as guided by my doctor and physical therapist, both of whom climb with me.
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Kartessa
Aug 31, 2012, 3:53 PM
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chadnsc wrote: Kartessa wrote: Well it's been a week and my booboo is still feeling rather owie. I'm leaving today for the road trip. The climbing we had planned for Monday has been replaced with sea kayaking the worlds highest tides. Not quite as awesome, but it will have to do. The next planned climbing is a week later in Newfoundland... Fuck everything, I can't miss this. Sorry to hear about this Dina. I'm even more sorry to have to tell you that an injury like yours takes 3-6 months to heal. (oncehardman correct me if I'm wrong) Every time you 'test' the injury and feel more pain the healing time starts over from zero. I know this sucks, I've been through it myself but you can't really climb for three months then it's another three months of slowly working back into climbing. At lest that's the way it was for me as guided by my doctor and physical therapist, both of whom climb with me. Luckily, if I could climb 36 hours after breaking my foot and spraining my ankle... I'm not going to have to cancel my trip to Yosemite this October
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chadnsc
Aug 31, 2012, 4:12 PM
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Kartessa wrote: chadnsc wrote: Kartessa wrote: Well it's been a week and my booboo is still feeling rather owie. I'm leaving today for the road trip. The climbing we had planned for Monday has been replaced with sea kayaking the worlds highest tides. Not quite as awesome, but it will have to do. The next planned climbing is a week later in Newfoundland... Fuck everything, I can't miss this. Sorry to hear about this Dina. I'm even more sorry to have to tell you that an injury like yours takes 3-6 months to heal. (oncehardman correct me if I'm wrong) Every time you 'test' the injury and feel more pain the healing time starts over from zero. I know this sucks, I've been through it myself but you can't really climb for three months then it's another three months of slowly working back into climbing. At lest that's the way it was for me as guided by my doctor and physical therapist, both of whom climb with me. Luckily, if I could climb 36 hours after breaking my foot and spraining my ankle... I'm not going to have to cancel my trip to Yosemite this October Be careful, these types of injuries will come back and wreck you if you don't let them heal. Let me put it this way . . . . I was shot in the left hand with a 9mm bullet (flesh wound) and was able to climb (crack, trad) by using moleskin and trainers tape only 6 days later. After I had a partial tear of my flexor tendon in my ring finger it was three months before I could even consider climbing. Don't push too hard too soon.
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amarius
Aug 31, 2012, 4:50 PM
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Careful there - you do need to grip SK paddle after all. Getting into tidal races would probably be not advised. Of course, getting stuck in the middle of paddle due to bum finger would be worst for both you and your paddling partners since timing in tidal zone paddling is not flexible
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billcoe_
Sep 12, 2012, 8:33 PM
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Damn, that sucks. Need any advice? It's follow the common wisdom and take it easy. Stay out of strong tides in the boat too, forcing it to work will only cause issues later....... Been there done that - with 4 fingers at once too in the climbing gym, fortunately it was my "off" hand so I could still..err, still utilize the good hand for the ......cough* cough* ...important things...hope you recover soon. Climbing cracks with it heavily taped up might be an option by October. Be careful on the face holds.
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Kartessa
Sep 15, 2012, 12:54 AM
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On the bright side for the finger/hand it's been pissing rain every time we plan something like climbing or paddling. The 20+ft swells have been keeping us on the shore and playing tourist. Pretty nice though The sword fighting yesterday gave some aches but that's the first time since it happened
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rgold
Sep 15, 2012, 4:27 AM
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I popped a butterfly years ago. Made a pop like the loudest hand clap you could manage. It was outdoors and people twenty feet away heard it. I was in great shape, warmed up, and had not ingested any judgement-impairing libations. But it was only the butterfly. No pain in the palm. Being young and stupid, I taped it as best I could and climbed anyway even though it hurt. The result was that it hurt for more than a year and never regained full strength. Guess I showed it who's boss, eh? It's hard to take the long-term view until the long-term actually occurs, at which point it is way too late to reverse decisions made from a short-term perspective. YMMV, but probably not.
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patto
Sep 15, 2012, 11:06 AM
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Audible injuries are never good! Last December I was climbing an easy 5.9 and managed to make my shoulder go POP! It was a multi pitch and on a traverse so it actually was easier and simpler to push on to the top rather than retreat. I screamed in pain on the harder moves but got to a belay and managed to complete the climb. It took a while to get a proper diagnosis but it turned out that I had an avulsion fracture of my scapula (shoulder blade). This was far better news than a tendon or ligament though! It healed up just fine.
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roccsugma5
Sep 22, 2012, 1:34 AM
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Sorry to hear that..... it happened to me on my very first 5.11 red point down at the Punchbowl -S. Cali. I made the move, however it took about 3weeks to heal...painful indeed, not just fisically....I suggest you focus on other things than climbing hard... i did ice packs, heated sand-box massages, gentle stretches, and told it to heal, over and over and over till it did. Disclaimer: - this is just my anecdote,Please, consult a medical professional. i by no means sugest to be a doctor nor a healer; nor am i liable for any further damage this may cause you.
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Kartessa
Sep 22, 2012, 2:53 AM
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I've managed 4 weeks with zero climbing. This week I'll go to the gym and start on some simple/easy/mega juggy stuff just to get back into the swing of things before a trip to yosemite in 3 weeks. Wish me luck
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sycamore
Sep 22, 2012, 3:22 AM
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Tape it. H-tape it, and if that doesn't feel okay, buddy tape it.
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onceahardman
Sep 22, 2012, 1:48 PM
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Kartessa wrote: I've managed 4 weeks with zero climbing. This week I'll go to the gym and start on some simple/easy/mega juggy stuff just to get back into the swing of things before a trip to yosemite in 3 weeks. Wish me luck Good luck, of course...but... How is it feeling? Do you still have pain when simply opening and closing your hand? If you (gently) load the offending finger in a crimp position, does that still hurt? I think its a good idea to go climbing, but I'd rather see you go out on real rock, instead of the gym. Go to Buffalo Crag, and climb some non fingery stuff like Endgame, Flying Kiwi, and work up to Orange Wall and Rainy Day Woman. Just stay off Orange Wall Direct, and Summer Brave. Too fingery. I'm afraid you wil have too much temptation at the gym to start crimping too soon. Just be smart.
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Player
Sep 25, 2012, 5:01 AM
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I think may have just went through/still going through the same thing. The last week in June I was bouldering and got a bad pain shooting down my ring finger through my palm and into the forearm when trying to pull. I still had full range of motion with no pain, but something as little as opening a car door would hurt. My ring finger was the center of the injury, but pulling down with my middle finger also caused a bit of pain. I quit climbing for 3 weeks entirely, and then very slowly started getting back into it. Real easy routes. I noticed at first that trying to use an open hand grip with just the tip of my ring/middle finger on a hold was quite painful. I got in about a half day of climbing during a weekend trip. I took another two week break. This next weekend trip I did significantly better. The open hand grip was still horrible and unusable, but light crimping was OK, and I was doing great if I could get rock up to the second knuckle. The routes were still easy, and I was avoiding anything overhanging, but I got a nice day and a half in climbing that time. I've been climbing every week since, and my trip last weekend I was cranking real hard on a route above my limit. Unfortunately, sometime in the whole mess I overcompensated with my other hand and have a minor pulley injury, so now I cant crimp on my left hand and I'm still afraid to use an open hand grip on my right. Makes for some interesting climbing. I have only had one issue during the recovery period where I thought was bad. I was pushing a hard route with overhanging small crimpy holds on labor day weekend. I tried the route once and felt meh. I tried it again and felt a little pain. I got ready to go a third time and realized then I was being an idiot and just quit climbing for the rest of the day (it was maybe 3pm). Next day I was feeling great and pushing hard routes. I think what really helped me was taking shorter then normal days and stopping at the first (sometimes second) sign of pain, taking longer breaks between climbing days, a willingness to fall/improvise instead of using small right handholds, and just climbing easier routes for the first few weeks. Good luck!
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