Wrist Injury

[Ryland]

Ok, so I have done a lot of research on what might be "wrong" with my wrist but I can't seem to find anything conclusive. To preface, about 4 years ago I badly sprained my wrist while skateboarding. At the time, I wasn't really climbing at all. Being younger and stupid, I kept working, didn't let it heal long enough, and repeatedly fell on it. Now, on my left hand, where the ulna (the little side of the arm bone) meets the wrist, I have a huge bump. I met with a chiropractor who was surprisingly helpful and not a lunatic like most of them. He sat me down with an anatomy book, explained that he thought I had "stretched the ligaments" that connect my arm to my wrist and hands, and that's why my arm bone stuck out. He said that surgery would probably be riskier than letting scar tissue do its job, and no matter what happened, that bone would stick out.

Now, flash forward to my climbing pursuits. After about a year of consistent climbing, and starting to break into harder grades and boulder problems, I found that holding onto small holds or sloping holds didn't hurt at all to hold on, but If I would bear down and fall off, I would promptly a receive a shot of agonizing pain throughout my wrist. I didn't know what to do, was considering going to an orthopedist, and then a friend of mine who was training to be a PT told me that if I just wrapped a rubberband or wristband around my wrist, it would help support it and it would then not cause me so much pain. It worked like a miracle, the pain was much less worse, I could push myself, a little pain here and there, but nothing too bad. I eventually started taping my wrist because it seemed more supportive. Over the past summer, I didn't climb quite as much as I would have liked to, because I had moved and it was hot, blah blah.

Moving on: I started climbing in a gym again in September and my wrist didn't bother me at all. I feel like I'm stronger than I've ever been, haven't needed tape or anything. Then, about a week ago, I was working on an arete problem where you had to match on a decent sloper, then cross left hand, (me weak wrist), to a sloping crimp that was slightly angled to the left (Imagine locking off matched, placing your left as if you were crossing, and then turning your left hand slightly to the left to hit the hold in it's rightful place). It turned out you could get some pinch action in there, and using your thumb gave that extra boost for a long throw from the left hand cross to a sloper up and to the right around the right side of the arete. immediately after that you switched your left hand from the shitty, sloping-crimp-pinch thing, to a tweaky, not positive, undercling. From there, there was some bumping and then the finish. Anyway, at the time I was putting this thing together (It had a duct-tape grade of V8, not sure if that matters for anyone trying to contextualize this incredibly long thread), it didn't hurt, a little pain in my wrist, but nothing too bad.

However, the next day, my wrist hurt a lot, and I couldn't climb. I have been resting for about a week and it does feel a lot better, but I know that my wrist is fucked up from before and I'm concerned about what that means. The pain is mostly on the upper side of my left wrist on the pinky side of my hand. But there's also slight pain on the bottom side as well. I can tell that pinching would be painful, as would slopers. Does anyone know anything about what stretched, or possibly torn ligaments from previous injuries can do to your wrist while climbing. I'm also concerned about pushing it too hard to the point of tearing cartilage, which I have heard can be a devastating injury. I hope I haven't done that yet, as it hurts but doesn't hurt immensely. If anyone could offer any insight about any of this at all, it would be very, very appreciated. I'm fortunate enough to have health insurance and everything, but I just feel that most doctors, no matter how you explain it to them, just don't understand climbing at all.

Apologies for the long-winded message.

[kafish2]

Let me save everyone a bunch. If you ask for medical advice on this message board you are going to be told 2 things...

1. See an MD.

2. Stop with the web MD.

Sorry, just hoping to save you 8 pages of getting bashed for asking for advice.

[Shamis]

Let me save everyone a bunch. If you ask for medical advice on this message board you are going to be told 2 things...

1. See an MD.

2. Stop with the web MD.

Sorry, just hoping to save you 8 pages of getting bashed for asking for advice.

I've gotten good advice on this board, and I think there is at least 1 dr posting...so it's not a waste of time, especially if you don't have health insurance or something.

That being said, you'd probably need to see a Dr. to see if there were any long term solutions such as surgery available, but most likely you'll be stuck with it. warm up more, take more rest days, don't push it as hard, ice it, take ibuprofin, and good luck...

[caribe]

This may take a lot of patience on your part. I broke my wrist when I was in the 5th grade. Seven years later I still would feel a twinge of pain here and there when it was stressed at a particular angle. I was not climbing rock at that point but I was very athletic.

[climb2core]

You have 2 choices:

1.) See a Dr if you are looking for immediate answers . They do understand anatomy and how to read MRI's. Skip the visit to the family doc and find your self an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in the wrist/hand. BTW, you may not like the answer... he may say surgery will fix it or just that you need to stop climbing and rest it. They may have you see a physical therapist.

2.) Suck it up and wait it out. You are not going to get an accurate diagnosis online considering your history and many possible involved structures.

Good luck.

[krampus]

masterbation for strength training is my recomendation. You may have your own, but I could recomend several websites to help with this.

[hypro]

And what website might that be?

[krampus]

search the forum for a post made by Horatio Felatio that contains the words "salsa snack"