Injury #1

 23/10/2012 (Forgot to Publish)

So yesterday I joined the realms of climbing injuries and popped my first pulley.

Looking back it was quite surreal, I was side pulling on a small crimp (it's really a wooden foot hold) and there was a small crunch. At the time, I thought it was the wooden hold that had settled on the board since it had only been up an hour or so and I was one of the first people on it.

It was when the guy I was climbing with asked "Are you OK?" that I realised something might be up.

As it stood, I was unable to bend my finger fully (it's the ring finger on my left hand) and pulling down on an edge hurts a little. As it's not excruciatingly painful I doubt that I've damaged the tendon, the most logical explanation is a pulley so that's what I'm sticking with.

Of course it's at this point where I started thinking "Shit. What have I done?! Will it ever heal? Will I be able to climb at all? Will it need to be amputated?", well OK that last one is a bit excessive and didn't really go through my mind but the others were all fleeting reactions to my first injury.

The anatomy of the damage is a little hazy for me (Biology was never my strong point), however the following website explains it extremely well; http://www.nicros.com/training/articles/finger-tendon-pulley-injury/

It's interesting reading various opinions round the internet about what to do in case of this injury. The most common piece of advice is to rest it and ice it. However, the length of time to rest it is where the problems start.
The nicros website indicates that the rest period should be from 2 weeks up, however other sources (none of which I have to hand) indicate 1 to 2 weeks. I think it depends on the extent of the injury.

Since I do not know the fully extent of my injury it's hard to gauge how long it'll take to recover. So this is what I did...

Week 1.
What I did do:
No climbing. Minimal exertion of finger, fortunately I have a desk job so this isn't too much hassle.
What I didn't do:
I didn't ice it. I forgot.

Week 2.
What I did do:
Introduction back to climbing for 30mins, no crimpy stuff. For those of you with access to a Beastmaker 1000 finger board, I stuck to the jugs. As soon as it felt stiff or painful I stopped.
What I didn't do:
No ice, no anti-inflammatory's (but it wasn't inflamed!)

14/11/2012

So how is it now?
Well, it's been nearly 4 weeks and the finger no longer hurts. I'm pretty sure that the full range of motion has returned (though since I have no reference other than my right hand I can't be entirely sure. It does not hurt to climb on, however it can be a little stiff after climbing for a little while.

When I'm climbing I try to not to do anything to aggravate it and when I'm not climbing I try to maintain movement.


If such an injury happens again, I will aim to ice it earlier and perhaps rest it for longer with a complete cessation of activity. Lessons learned though!