Finger Injury?

About a week ago my ring finger on my right hand started bothering me while climbing at the gym. There was no swelling, and it only felt like I jammed my finger, and I assumed I had smacked my hand on a hold and jammed it. I stopped and took a couple days off. I then had an easy day, and it felt fine (still feeling like I jammed it, however). I went out again the next day and was crimping pretty hard, and heard a crack noise. I felt an immediate relief to the "jammed" finger, no pain, but some weakness. My friends that were present all heard the cracking, and said it definitely did not sound like a tendon/pulley blowing. And I, myself thought it just sounded like knuckles cracking. I stubbornly continued to climb on it, then came home and iced it. It felt alright, weak, but no pain.

I woke up to a swollen finger, slightly tender to touch, but mostly just stiff and swollen. I continue to ice it and stretch. No pain at all, just swelling and stiffness. The only part that hurts is the palm side of my middle joint on finger when i rub it. It has been a couple days now, resting, icing, etc, and it still just feels stiff. It almost feels like I have an injury to the joint, ad not the tendon at all.

So, I am just kinda waiting until the swelling goes down to see how it feels, and waiting it out to see a doc. But I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this. I'm just so confused because of the lack of pain.

I've experienced three pulley injuries: once in my right pinky (mild), once in my left ring finger (mild), and once in my right ring finger (moderate).

The right pinky was a result of clapping off of a small crimp. I was locked off from pointer to ring, but the pinky was just hanging out. When I clapped off the lock off, my pinky came down onto the hold, locked off, bent backwards, and popped loudly. Fortunately pinkies are needed much, so I isolated it with tape and climbed without it. It only really hurt at the joint when I rubbed it, tried to simulate a lock off, or put the joint in contact with a sharp edged jug.

The left ring finger was the result of running the same problem too many times in a row in one day. There was no pop or sudden failure. I was locked off on a 2 finger pocket, I felt my tendons move in the finger, then suddenly I was losing strength in the lock off. This one also only hurt at the joint when I rubbed it, tried to simulate a lock off, or put the joint in contact with a sharp edged jug.

The right ring finger was the result of throwing to a 2 finger pocket. I didn't notice it was injured until the next day, when it was swollen and sensitive to movement. It felt like I need to pop my knuckle, but I couldn't due to the swelling. It ached, even while resting, for about 2 months. I didn't climb at all for 5-6 weeks, then slowly worked back up the grades over another couple of months.

To me, it sounds like you injured your pulley. On the plus side, it sounds like it's not that bad. I alternated soaking in hot and cold water, which seemed to help, along with lots of stretching. I would also recommend avoiding small crimps if you can. Slopers were crucial to my recovery, and I also got to work on a skill that was desperately under developed. I avoid pockets like the plague.

If you crimp with just that finger does it hurt? What if you add resistance to your finger and try to raise it (extending the finger--the opposite of a climbing motion which is flexing)? Does it hurt if you try to bend your finger sideways one way or the other? If it's yes, no, no, pulley injury may be likely. I've also had finger issues that I thought were pulley issues that turned out to be very minor (1-2 week healing time) that I think were just bruising or a very minor tweak of something.

So, swelling has gone down. I can crimp just fine with it, just can't close the finger when I make a fist. In fact, the only time it feels weak, is when I try flexing it. (I haven't actually weighted it, but the other day after it popped I was still crimping closed hand on it just fine). Extension does not bother it, side to side movement doesn't bother it. Just stiff, and the joint hurts to touch still. I guess I ll just keep doing the ice and heat thing and take it easy for a little longer, and kinda figure out if it's getting better or not. Seems to be pretty minor fortunately, though incredibly annoying!

I agree with you assessment. It's a little tweak to the PIP joint. When "you" climb harder and push the hands the lumbricals and finger extensors work hard to stabilize the PIP joints (middle joint in the fingers)

The problem with the finger joints is that the two bone ends are pretty much flat, so you don't get any bony interlocking to help stabilize the joint the way you do in say, the elbow.
The muscles contract and create force closure to keep the joint stable, this is pretty much how the shoulder also works (except that the shoulder is much more complicated)
Anyhow, if you hammer your fingers climbing then you'll have some swelling and residual muscle tightness after the session that can cause some biomechanical distortion to the PIP joint.

So long story shortened, what you thought happened is exactly what did happen. The joint was stiff and tight and then when you loaded it up again you basically really aggressively cracked the knuckle.
The downside to this situation is that you did it under load and likely bruised the bone surfaces inside the joint space. If ice helps, great but basically there's not much to do for it.
Use the old rule of "if it hurts don't do it" and it should clear up in a few weeks.

If anyone is still reading. Julian Saunders (he's a physio from New Zealand or AU) wrote a piece for Rock and Ice years back about stretching the PIP joints by twisting them. Think, grab the end of your finger and twist it like you're turning a key. For anyone with chronically stiff fingers this may help to get that connective tissue around the PIP joints moving again and restore some range of motion to those joints.

cheers,
BA

A2 pulley definitely caused me pain crimping. I would just avoid pain and climb if you can climb pain free (at lower grade if necessary). I bet you'll be ok before long.

Thanks Brent. Yeah, I feel like it is definitely the joint, but I started to worry that it was my pulley. Almost have full mobility again today with hardly any swelling. Psyched!