so, after two weeks of training at the climbing gym i have a sore finger. which reminded me that about 95% of climbing injuries i know of happened while training on plastic. my buddy J's explanation is that plastic/synthetic grips are not natural material and hence it does not "have the same positive vibrations natural rock has"
but seriously, anybody know why injuries tend to happen more with indoor training?

because they won't allow you to brew a cup of tea at the base of the wall...

hahaha - nice one Marc

I've never injured myself on plastic. In fact I'm pretty proud of myself that I've mostly injured myself on trad routes (and the odd walk-in )

Mok you must use your feet more

u pull harder on plastic then on rock, mainly because on rock most people tend to scale down and not do risky poweful movements, due to mental issues etc. Finger injuries are the main reason for eliminating climbers from the game.

Ebert Nel
look after your fingers, warm them up, stretch them, tendons are no joke

my 2c:
gym climbing tends to be more hurried - i.e. less rest between attempts.
psychological factor to "show-off", especially around good looking members of the opposite sex. admit it.
people try harder / riskier moves since the environment is more controlled.
gym climbing sometimes forces you into awkward moves (on real rock you may use especially your feet differently based on your length etc.)
plastic has negative vibrations bru.

You should come hang out in the hang board/campus board area It's mostly just Sean Maasch there. If you impress him you're probably doing something wrong

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Chuck Norris wears Ueli Steck pyjamas

Well, you said it... climbing on fake stuff is looking for injuries!
Get off the wall and onto the rock with the positive energy stuff

I agree with Forket & Mokganjesti,
We crank harder on plastic. Period.

Recent international trend on plastic design is to make shapes that avoid stressing the finger tendons, and it seems that international comps are more focused these days on applying the whole body rather than the ability to stick on a nasty crimp. (have a look at the huge stuff being climbed on international comps!)
I think this trend is deliberate - trying to make the sport mature and less injury prone, in an attempt to get it recognized as a serious international sport.

Rock will always be sharp. I reckon our general saving grace on natural rock is:
- exposure makes us do less hard moves
- the sharp stuff on rock is normally so sharp that we feel the pain before we get hurt!

peace

There is more to this than just the 'energy' joke made earlier.

It is chemically shown that sweat disolves and absorbs the minerals and carbon from natural rock. Creating a positive chemical balance with the endorphins in your body.
You are after all a carbon based life form.

But with the plastic grips you disolve and absord estrogen from the holds.
The estrogen is especially bad for you thyroid and, for men, critically dangerous to their prostate.

This is a good fact to be armed with, especially since Movember is prostate cancer awareness month.




On a tongue in cheek side note:
The estrogen poisoning from the holds/grips may be the reason why trad climbers have deeper voices than gym climbers.
This seems to be the case even for the ladies.....

Hann, post of the month!!!!

Han, thanks for the epiphany!
I will keep a lookout for testosterone enriched holds - should be available in retail shops soon if your theory holds true!

peace

haha hann!!

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Climb ZA - Administrator

I've got a wooden beastmaker hann, is that why I've got permanent wood?