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Talking About Tendons

• January 2008
• Uncategorized

Hey Steph,
I am 18 and have been climbing for four years. You and Dean inspire me so much. My question is how do you keep yourself from getting injuries (ie. tendons)? I had to take off 8 months from climbing because of a wrist tendon injury, that I still deal with on a minor scale, as well as a newly developed shoulder injury. It breaks my heart because climbing is what I live for.

I usually train in a climbing gym and climb outdoors as much as possible. I especially am obsessed with crack climbing and absolutely love indian creek. I want to be able to climb injury-free so bad. Have you ever had a tendon injury? how do you prevent them?
Thank you so much,
Nicole Grider

Dear Nicole,
I’m so sorry about your wrist. Injuries can be really hard to deal with, especially chronic, tendon problems. The good news is that there are things you can do to get better.
I used to have a hard time with my ring finger tendons, especially when climbing on plastic a lot. And I used to have wrist problems when I was aid climbing and hammering a lot. Now I tend to get tweaks–usually ankle problems, and most recently, a surprise knee injury. But there is one thing in common for all of these, whether over use, accidental, tendon, muscular, or joint: the classic formula of Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. For tendons, you want to alternate icing with heat. So for your wrist, put ice on your wrist for as long as you can. When you’ve had it with that, take a hot shower, and then ice again.

I am a fanatic about icing, because it can speed your recovery time more than anything else, by up to 50%. I’ve found that if I have an injury, I just carry ziplock bags around with me, wherever I go. Then if I’m in the car, or waiting somewhere, I fill the bags from an ice machine and I can ice almost anywhere. I ignore the standard warnings of not putting ice directly on bare skin, and only icing for fifteen minutes at a time. I put ice bags directly on my skin, and leave it on as long as I can manage–several hours, usually, and I even go to sleep with ice bags and layers of towels and plastic bags in bed sometimes! I have never gotten frostbite, or anything but good from this, so I can’t figure out why they always tell you that. My experience with icing has been, the more the better. If I have an ankle injury, I keep a small cooler full of ice with me, and stick my foot in it whenever I’m hanging around. If you have a finger injury, a coffee cup full of ice water works great, as ice water allows total immersion and is even better than ice packs. If you can get ice on your injury at the first signs of it, you can reduce your recovery time significantly. The best thing I’ve learned recently is to keep up with the icing, even when the pain goes away and I think I am all healed. I persevere with the icing for a few more days, so it doesn’t come back.

Also, taking anti-inflammatories is very important. Many climbers think that you should allow yourself to “feel the pain, so you don’t hurt yourself more.” No. First of all, you need to reduce inflammation as much as possible. Second of all, you don’t want to allow the habit of being in pain to imprint itself on your brain pathways (this is an actual medical directive from my brother who is an ER doctor, I’m not making it up). So take ibuprofen several times a day, while you are feeling the injury, for up to two weeks at a time.

For muscular or joint injuries, compression really helps with swelling, stability, and pain. For tendons (and wrists and ankles), tape is your friend! I would recommend taping your wrist from now on, even while driving. I used to really get more wrist pain on long drives, when my wrists were acting up. I am usually able to climb, and do anything I want, with small wrist or ankle injuries if I just tape them really well. (Unfortunately this doesn’t work for shoulders, knees or elbows. Darn!!)

The main thing I have found, with any and all little injuries, is that having an injury tends to throw my body out of balance. Since I’m favoring the hurt place, things seem to get all out of whack and cause other things to hurt. Once when I had a broken big toe, my knee started to hurt because I was walking strange. My knee is almost better right now, but I notice some back pain because I was limping for six days. So try to stretch and do yoga when you are injured, to save yourself from putting stress on the other parts. Try to get as relaxed and balanced as you can.

Above all, don’t let it get you down! I know how sad and frustrating it can be, when some minor injury stops you from doing what you love. Just remember, the body WANTS to heal. Help it along with aggressive, devoted icing, anti-inflammatories, lots of hydration, and especially positive energy. Turn that frown upside down (I know, I know, but I couldn’t resist :)), and think about sending good, healing thoughts to the sore place. Tell yourself that you are going to get better fast, and every day pay attention to any recovery that has happened. Get excited about that, no matter how small, and remember that the human body can repair itself from massive trauma. Figure out what you can do, despite the injury. For example, with a hurt knee or ankle, you have even more motivation to do fingerboard workouts. With a hurt wrist, you can run more. All these things are fun and good for climbing, and will keep you busy. Just remember: you will be better soon, so don’t worry.

Once you have recovered, take it easy when you start climbing again. Use lots of tape, and remember to ice after climbing, even if you are not officially injured. Be like the Europeans, and warm up way more than you might think necessary. I know it seems like it will always plague you, but I haven’t had finger problems in years and years, and I was bothered by them for several years when I had them. Eventually this will be just a memory, and you will be climbing strong.

I hope this helps!
xx Steph