Colorado doctors who climb

I see a lot of threads on this site asking for medical advice.

It might be helpful if doctors who are climbers would identify themselves to the climbing community via this thread, along with their specialty.

I find that it is easier for a doctor who climbs to understand the physical demands and mindsets of climbers than a nonclimber doc.

Haha haha and give free medical advice I suppose?
You Crack me up.
Why would they give free advice if they can charge for it and go on trips and buy new gear with the money....oh and the trophy wife maintenance! ( I almost forgot about that).
Jokes aside, use common sense. If I have a medical question, I just Google it. Somebody always has a few good ideas on forums out there....you see some crazy shit too!

J.C. Penny wrote:Haha haha and give free medical advice I suppose? You Crack me up.

Maybe (or not), but I was more thinking that climbers might want to see doctors who get what climbing involves and how important it is to us.

J.C. Penny wrote:If I have a medical question, I just Google it. Somebody always has a few good ideas on forums out there...

...

Brad Gone wrote: ...

Why not? Google pretty much contains the combined knowledge of nearly all known things. There is not one person, or even 100, that knows more than Google. The trick of course is figuring out what information is correct and what is incorrect. But regardless, the correct answer to just about any question that any human could answer is cataloged on Google, you just need to find it.

Getting back to the original topic... liability plays a role. Docs are afraid of giving advice without fully evaluating your injury. This fear may be real or just perceived, but it is definitely out there.

Old Crusty wrote:Getting back to the original topic... liability plays a role. Docs are afraid of giving advice without fully evaluating your injury. This fear may be real or just perceived, but it is definitely out there.

I was never really suggesting doctors give fee advice on MP. That is probably a bad idea, based on limited information that might not be accurate. Puts doctor in an awkward position and they don't want to give the wrong advice.

I was just more interested in hearing from docs who climb themselves, in case someone has a climbing related injury & wants to go see a doc who understands climbing.

The internet is a great resource for medical information but it is often difficult to weed through the plethora of dubious information that is mixed with the good.

My experience with MP injury forums is that there is a lot of bad advice dispensed with good intentions.

So here's the scoop, climbers are doing dangerous strenuous physical activity that most people consider plain crazy. It's like a coal miner complaining of pulmonary issues. Some things come with the territory. It's called wear and tear. Some people are more genetically blessed than others, some age better than others. A little TLC to the body and mind can go a long way. Listen to your body. Doctors are trained to treat regular people not climbers. Even sports medicine docs will tell you the same thing. There is no medicine specifically for climbers.

Remember what mountain climbing is. It's the art or suffering!

I was actually at my ortho Doc the other day, who has climbed for about 15 years or so. Of course it was "Dawn Wall " day..so tons of questions ...it helped keep things interesting.

20 kN wrote: Why not? Google pretty much contains the combined knowledge of nearly all known things. There is not one person, or even 100, that knows more than Google. The trick of course is figuring out what information is correct and what is incorrect. But regardless, the correct answer to just about any question that any human could answer is cataloged on Google, you just need to find it.

Google Scholar is a great tool.

I guess I just meant to point out the irony in that statement.

Jim,

Not sure if it's just the docs I know but it seems like half the doctors in CO are climbers of some type or another.

I think it's tough to get at what I think you are looking for though. Not all climbers understand the physical demands or mindset of a climber who is aggressively pursuing progression and growth. Lots of climbers in CO are weekend warriors, happy if they get out to clip bolts once or twice a month, or they climbed hard in the past and still identify with the culture but have now been in the 1-2/mo crowd for so long that it's tough for them to relate to those who really prioritize their climbing.

A short-list of go-to climbing docs would be nice but I think it will be difficult to develop. There have been some other specific suggestions here in the past when CO climbers were looking for shoulder or hand help and those threads seemed to get a better response with a more direct focus (one specialty, who is the best for X, etc...).

I'm not a doctor but I can self medicate like the ones on tv.

Dr. Fox what is your specialty?

I see a real value with gleaning medical advice from experts like yourself that happen to climb.

A forum for for health issues similar to the expert climbing advice from the likes of Mr. David Coley, Mr. Jim Titt, & Mr. Bearduder, would be beneficial.

Tom-onator wrote:Dr. Fox what is your specialty? I see a real value with gleaning medical advice from experts like yourself that happen to climb. A forum for for health issues similar to the expert climbing advice from the likes of Mr. David Coley, Mr. Jim Titt, & Mr. Bearduder, would be beneficial.

I'm an Occupational Medicine physician. I treat people who are injured on the job and see a wide array of injuries. However, I am unable to see private patients- only work comp.
I am happy to provide medical advice to climbers, although the advice might just be "Go see a doctor" because it is difficult to tell what is going on via the internet.
I've climbed recreationally off and on for over 40 yrs. Don't climb anything too hard anymore but still climb regularly.

I can recommend this practice in boulder for foot issues. I think two of the three podiatrists are climbers, and they were very aware of the specific issues with climbing shoes.

boulderfootandankle.com/yvo…

I find it really sad some of the comments placed here. I am a medical student, so not quite a doctor, but if you actually believe some of the things written on this feed you are doing yourself a real disservice. Majority of family practice physicians don't make as much money as most engineers or about the same, but they are in way more debt and spent a number of more years getting their degree, and not every doctor thinks about money as the number one item like it seems portrayed on this feed.

The problem in medicine is that majority of climbing injuries require 1 of 3 if not all of 3 things. X-ray, Ct scan, or MRI. Those are expensive, but those 3 things are the predominant way we can visualize what is going on with your injury. Take those away and yes we can treat you and probably make it better still, but going to the doctor is the first half of the equation. Second part of that is to listen to what they tell you to do. Everyone thinks that they are better when they stop hurting, however that's when majority of injuries occur, because the body is remodeling the tissue to try and prevent further injury, and actually needs more rest. Also medication is not the cure for most climbing injuries typically the answer is rest and more than you desire to take off from climbing. 3rd, its unfortunate but all those tests are expensive and a doctor has to decide what is the benefit of this test? If I order a 3000$ MRI on you ( just so you know why it cost that much-its not because "Doctors charge that" that is your good old friend General Electric or some other engineering company that sells these devices to the hospital for millions, and the fact that they require Liquid nitrogen or Helium maintained way below freezing in order to work plus the fact that every single scan of any type has to be viewed by a radiologists who spends 3-5 years looking at black, white, and smoke screened images to learn the anatomy seen on those images and has to read it to make sure nothing was missed, just as a glimpse of what goes into all this) then If I ordered that MRI, chances are you strained a muscle or sprained a ligament and the answer is rest. So I did you a huge disservice, and you or your insurance now pays a big bill. However, you might get mad that you came to see me if I did not order the MRI, because I charged you a 15 dollar co pay and "didn't do anything" for you other than order you some Ibuprofen and rest, however I actually did a lot that took years of education to rule out the fact that you actually have nothing seriously wrong.

However, Lets say I did want to order an image series. Well because of how insurance works they wont pay for your MRI unless I do an x-ray or CT first. So now I have to order an x-ray, see those results, or CT scan, then finally your insurance will pay for your MRI when all along that is what I wanted to do in the first place and knew that it was a soft tissue injury rather than bone. So before you beat up on doctors realize that its easy to lay blame on them, but the reality is, its the insurance companies that limit our abilities/ and major industry that provides us the tools that set the costs. (Dont assume government run healthcare would fix this either, if anything it will get worse, because if anyone likes to save money and limit what you do, its the government so if its bad now, it will only get worse and everyone is going to have to pay for it).

Lastly Sure Google can answer any question you have, but believe me after working for 2 years and studying more hours in a month than most people put in over 4 years of college, there are more things out there than you could ever think or come across. Its called the differential. As a medical student when someone has x problem we are expected to be able to list 3-4 things that could be the thing wrong, as a first year resident you are expect to list in order of probability 7-8 things that could be the issue, and when you are a practicing physician > 11 things per specific issue or complaint, and then have the knowledge to know how to work it up to get the answer and rule out what its not, so without being overly protective of " the doctors' just realize that they have sacrificed a lot, even the worst doctor in the world is still a doctor.

My suggestion to you is that if you are hurt rest. Take an additional week than you think you need, if its really bad and you want reassurance or you know rest wont fix the issue then go see a doctor.

Second establish a primary care doctor- this way they know you. They know all about your previous medical history, you as a person, how your body behaves and how they can best treat you, plus they will do normal maintenance on your body like flu shots, checking your lab values( my gf is a vegan climber and she recently found out with even taking vitamins to supplement the b12 and iron, she was iron deficient and anemic, there are so many issues this thing alone can cause other than being tired that you just would not know unless you spent years studying it, just by nature of this stuff) etc that can help keep you healthy and happy rather than fix issues after they happen.

Its great if that doctor happens to be a climber, because they understand the drive and desires of all climbers, they are wired the same way, but they dont have to be a climber. By establishing a primary care doctor you can find someone that cares about you as a person. Thats the real target is to have a doctor who is basically a close friend who is going to tell you and explain to you the details and give it to you straight. However you must be straight with them too, and take a little chastisement by them if they say well that was stupid that you were drinking and bouldering and fell and snapped your ankle.... You need to hear that if you didn't figure it out yourself, because it was the alcohol that made you a little loopy and off balance that then disabled your bodies ability to correct and prevent its own injury.

Lastly not every doctor is great, but there are great ones out there. So if you go to one and you really don't like them for good reason, then find a new one. You don't need an orthopedic surgeon for your climbing injury unless you really need one for a bad break etc, but your family care doctor would tell you what you need and save you and your insurance a lot of money. Don't make the ER your primary care doctor either, because the ER does not care about your muscle strain when 40 year old women is in room 2 bleeding from a car accident and in room 3 someone is being worked up for a heart attack. You will be wasting their time and yours, unless you are seriously injured. Back to the whole family doctor thing, if you find a good one they will modify the treatment to what fits you. The more people realize that taking their own health into their own hands and then having a conversation with the doctor about their health, that is when you will get the best of service. If the doctor wont have that conversation with you, find a different one. But establishing a record with one doctor will only benefit you like I said before, climber or not, a good doctor will work with you to get you healed and back to your activity as fast as possible.

You're going to want to see a hand surgeon if you have a hand injury. Odds are, someone who does delicate work with hands does not fuck up their own hands by being a climber. I am a doctor, and if I had a climbing related injury, I'd want to see the best hand surgeon I could rather than a climbing doctor.

Scott O wrote:You're going to want to see a hand surgeon if you have a hand injury. Odds are, someone who does delicate work with hands does not fuck up their own hands by being a climber. I am a doctor, and if I had a climbing related injury, I'd want to see the best hand surgeon I could rather than a climbing doctor.

GOOD POINT ACTUALLY...

^^^+1 for ScottO

Not a MD, B.S. degreed EMT-P for almost 25 years.