How does one treat a pulley injury and typically how long does it take to heal? I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms

Here is a good web page for info: http://www.climbinginjuries.com/page/fingers.
But I would recommend going to see a good physio asap to help you determine the severity of the injury. Ask the physio lots of questions.

Thanks for the link, I just don't like the part where it says to estimate the time you think you need to wait before climbing again and then doubling it...

I know from experience that you should rather take the time to heal, other wise you'll just keep injuring it over, and over again.

also a forced break once in a while means that you come back to the rock super psyced.

Cheach out how Lisa Rands treats a finger injury

http://www.lisarands.com/training.asp

How did you hurt yourself Liz?

From http://www.lisarands.com/training.asp :


Out of fear of sustaining injuries, I like to stay outdoors. This brings back memories of old Pretoria days hearing my tendon popping so loud that people outside of Ian's garage noticed the noise!

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Gustav
Roc 'n Rope Adventures
Waterval Boven
013 257 0363
rocrope dot com

Thanks, Kevin - will definitely try it!
Gustav, i noticed a slight pain in my left ring finger some time ago, but didn't really take much notice since I've never had problems with my fingers before. So two weeks ago we were climbing at Waterval-Boven and whilst cranking on Iron Lotus I heard this load pop and immediately realized that it was my finger. The people below were similarly nauseated. So now I'm totally depressed because we are leaving on our climbing trip to Montagu and Cederberg in about two weeks time - bad timing! At least I held out today and didn't try to climb and instead was the grumpy belay buddy

If you heard a popping sound then it is most likely that something is damaged badly enough to keep you off climbing for longer than you would like. Often there is some degree of tearing associated with the sound. The main question is what? That's where a proper diagnosis will help to determine the length of time off. Finger Tendons and pulleys may vary in healing times. Therefore you should get to a good sports physio for a diagnosis and treatment plan.

A large problem with a finger injury is the fact that we tend to use our fingers all the time to do all sorts of daily activities which means that the fingers don't get to rest enough to recover faster, so I would suggest that you strap your ring finger to the middle finger during the day to give it more chance to rest the finger. Careful not to rush back into training cos you can prolong the recovery period. It is true that indoor grips will probably friction on the tendon/pully and aggravate it so rather start again on the outdoors.

When returning to training, try avoid training into pain. You may consider a training session to be successful if you have no pain during the session as well as the next day. You may be looking at 3 weeks to 3 months rest depending on the severity of the injury.

Sorry about the injury. Good luck with recovery.

This thread might be of use to you Recommended Physio's

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Hi Liz,

Couple years back I was climbing my red point project which entailed a mono pocket and "POP" my finger was busted. I eventually went to a OT had a special finger cast made and walked around for 2 months flipping the verb, literely. I then got straight back into climbing and "pop" again. Long story short 6months in total for not being patient and climbing hard to soon. I recon give it a rest do ice water treatments do somthing els to keep your mind off climbing like trail running etc and in a few weeks you will be back in action.

Good Luck
Al

A good read on the topic of climbing injuries and how to prevent them is:
"One move too many"

"Subtitled ‘How to understand the injuries and overuse syndromes of rock climbing’, One Move Too Many… includes chapters on anatomy, injury types, overuse syndromes, training, stretching, rehabilitation, taping and nutrition.

This seminal book on climbing injuries is meant to help climbers understand physiologically what is happening to your body when you climb and train. The information you get from the book will provide a good base of knowledge for you to take to a doctor or physiotherapist when you think you are suffering from one of the injuries or syndromes described. As medical treatment for climbers is still in its infancy relative to other sports, many doctors might not appreciate the stress levels placed on the body when climbing. Your knowledge can help the doctor make an informed decision and guide you down the correct road to recovery."

It is written by 2 doctors:
"Dr. Thomas Hochholzer is a specialist in orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine. He runs his own clinic in Innsbruck, Austria. Dr. Volker Schoeffl is a specialist in surgery, trauma surgery and sports medicine. He is the team physician of Germany’s national climbing team."

The Eastern Cape section of the MCSA has a copy. Oh and use fingertape

Thanks so much for the replies guys!
Ja, I learned a hard lesson by not listening to my body and by not using finger tape when I noticed the problem at first. I'll try and be more patient, it must suck big time to hear that nasty sound again, Alex!
I suppose I should get a professional opinion - there are some people in my area on Justin's list. It always helps to know the physiology behind something.
Unfortunately for now I'll have to "keep my mind off climbing" by belaying my buddies on our forthcoming climbing trip

At the end of a session on plastic I hurt my finger so bad it swelled up like a flippin pork sausage. It took me about 6 months to get back in shape again. Couple of lessons learnt:

1] Warm-up, warm-up, warm-up - this is not negotiable
2] When you start getting fatigued whilst training, be self disciplined and ease off on the gas
3] Rule of thumb for rest is 6 weeks but only you will know when you are ready to start pulling again.
4] When you do start pulling again, condition yourself for a few weeks, try and open grip as much as possible.
5] Taping is good when coming back from injury, but try and wean yourself off it so your tendons can support themselves.
6] No disrespect to anybody in the medical proffesion, but fingers are damn tricky to assess and treat. There usually aren't visible symptoms (unlike a broken leg) and they rely on your feedback which they need to interpret. Also very few medical professionals deal with climbing finger injuries regularly. Try and work with them, but listen to your body and take it easy on the come back.
7] And Gustav is right, plastic is the culprit with fingers.

Good luck with the recovery

Andy (wannabee Doc Davies)

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AndyDavies

Good advice from the doctor there. Something I've learned from numerous finger injuries (and agree mostly from plastic) is that when you get back to climbing again it might still hurt. This doesn't necessarily mean it's not healed properly, but the pain could be caused by scar tissue build up. Direct friction massage is good for breaking it down. Painful at first, but I've found it really helps.

Lets face it us humans were never realy designed with hanging our body weight from our fingertips in mind.

Thanks, Doc Andy - appreciate all the tips. I did indeed strain my finger on plastic before the "pop". I managed to get a physio appointment for tomorrow. Here's to hoping scar tissue hasn't formed yet, I'm definitely not looking forward to more pain.

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Climb ZA - Administrator