Pully Injury Prevention

[Shamis]

So I was at the hand specialist today, and I ask him if there is something I can do to help prevent these injuries (such as my A3 pulley injury) from happening. And he tells me that there really isn't anything I can do. I asked him of the elasticity of the pulley changes when I warm up and he said it didn't, and then I asked if there was any way to strengthen it, and he said there wasn't.

I'm curious as to how this makes any sense, as I know that if I hop on a nasty crimper problem with no warmup I'm nearly guaranteed to blow one of these pulleys out.

Is he in the wrong, or is it more complicated than that? Does warmup make something else in my fingers more elastic and thus put less strain on the pulleys? Or does a better warmup perhaps enable me to use better body positioning thus relieving some of the forces on my fingers?

I assume there is some climbing literature in existence that covers this topic, but google let me down after about a 10 minute search.

Obviously I know taping can help, but I was looking for something more substantial in terms of training/warming up/preparation that might help. Also wondering if using a computer all day makes one more likely to have such problems (the hand specialist didn't think so, but I got the impression he was just making stuff up at that point).

[One-Fall]

I haven't used the crimp position in about 5 years, and haven't had any pulley problems. Prevention to me means not putting yourself in a high risk situation.

Open hand the crimps is one idea.

[ynot]

face reality. heinous crimping means more injury. don't do it anymore. leave it to the mutant kids with iron tendons. get over it. theres other kinds of climbing out there.

[tbwilsonky]

i've had a terrible time with pulley injuries in my 10 years of climbing, but over the past 16 months i've found an out:

fortunately its super-simple. i warm up open-handed (you don't warm up the pulley as much as you warm up the rest of your body) and then i crimp all i want. if i happen to feel a slight tweak, then i switch to pocket climbing til its better.

a year of this has me far more confident in my hand-health than the mid-20's version of me.

[toad857]

it's all about warming up... but what a lot of people don't realize is that warming up the fingers is a time thing, not an intensity thing. it takes time for the blood to really get circulating around the fingers and tendons--much more than other parts of the body, like, forearms and muscly areas that have better circulation. you've just got to 'wake them up' and let em know what's coming their way.... then have a seat and let the blood do its thing.

also, drink lots of water. i never drink enough. i live in a perpetual state of dehydration

[krampus]

I haven't used the crimp position in about 5 years, and haven't had any pulley problems. Prevention to me means not putting yourself in a high risk situation.

Open hand the crimps is one idea.

shenanagans I say, shenannagans.....You can't tell me you hand jammed up chunnel and table

[Shamis]

I'm an avid open hand climber, but I still find some moves that require crimping.

I usually do back off anytime I feel finger distress, that is one of the reasons why I'm so concerned about this injury...I didn't see it coming at all. My finger felt fine, and then it exploded. There were no warning signs.

I do think hydration might be more important then I originally thought. I think most of my finger injuries have come after a night of drinking.

[rsd212]

Obviously I know taping can help

Not so obvious, and depending on your exact meaning, possibly not true. Taping to restrict range of motion can prevent you from getting into full crimp position, but there's no evidence (and some evidence to the contrary) that taping will help support the pulleys and prevent injury. To tape tight enough to support a pulley would mean cutting off circulation.

http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/28/5/674.abstract

[pigsteak]

I haven't used the crimp position in about 5 years, and haven't had any pulley problems. Prevention to me means not putting yourself in a high risk situation.

Open hand the crimps is one idea.

shenanagans I say, shenannagans.....You can't tell me you hand jammed up chunnel and table

um doood, he means he hasnt used the classic crimp position..watch him and ray climb..they do this weird open hand crimp thing...it takes some training to get comfy with it, but I am told it is stronger and way less harmful to pulleys

[krampus]

oh, i though everyone used the open handed crimp position, anything else is just painful