Hand and Foot Pain

I'm a fairly new climber, only 5 weeks, and I can only make it to my nearest gym (2 hour drive) about once or twice a week. I usually climb for about 4 to 6 hours a trip. I usually do a warm up. Then work on some skill, anchor building, or multi-pitch belays. Then I work up in difficulty until failure. Then I do a few easy routs to just cool down. Then for the next 5 days my fingers kill me. Hurts like hell the first few, then decreases. Then I go climb again and it starts all over. I'm guessing this is normal. Any tips on minimizing this, or is this normal until I get my fingers built up?

Here is what you don't want to hear:

Don't climb as hard, for as long. You're new, work into it. It takes a long time to condition your hand tendons/ligaments to the rigors of climbing, but it doesn't take long to injure them.

Maybe your hands should be a little sore for a day or two, but 5 days of pain? Back off before you hurt yourself.

Maybe try climbing outside half of the trips on easy but fun routes?

I wish I had somewhere close to climb outdoors. I'm in Paris texas, so the closest place worth the trip is at least 3 hours away that I know of.

You do need to take it a little easy until your tendons are conditioned for climbing. If you do end up with a tendon injury it takes no less than a few months to heal fully but can leave some life long complications that will hurt your future climbing.

That being said, climbing technique could drastically help reduce the load on your arms while climbing. Are you trying to pull your way up the wall instead of pushing with your legs? Even with overhanging routes your hands should only be keeping you attached to the wall. Your legs should be doing most of the hard work with getting you up the wall. Of course there are moves that will require pulling but it should be minimized.

I started climbing in a gym last winter. I pretty much just overpowered my way to climbing 5.9 by pulling my way up and almost got injured because of it. That prompted me to read a book and figure out what I was doing wrong.

Fajita Dave wrote:You do need to take it a little easy until your tendons are conditioned for climbing. If you do end up with a tendon injury it takes no less than a few months to heal fully but can leave some life long complications that will hurt your future climbing.

It sucks to hear, but that's about the gist of it. Tendons are slow to grow and slow to heal. If you damage one, you're going to be seriously boned. You can build your muscles but if you're tendons can't handle the power it's kind of useless and dangerous. You just have to listen to your body. Sore is ok, pain is not. If you're in pain you need to rest more before climbing again and then not go as hard when you do. I get trying to spend as much time as possible during your trip to the gym but it won't end well.

Tendon problems are BEE-ATCH!!! Patellar tendinitis Put my ski patrol career to rest over 20 years ago. Now I still can't ski more than a day in a row, lest I flare it up again.

Don't knock yourself out of the game from the get go. Let them heal completely before ruining your hands for life. Seriously. You are off to a really bad start.

Also refer to the thread below: mountainproject.com/v/more-…

You are in good company. Climbing is addictive, and it is easy to over do it starting out.

Chase, if you do want to accelerate how quickly your tendons will adjust to climbing a good diet is going to be critical. Protein is important for both muscle and tendons but vitamin C is pretty critical for helping tendons heal and toughen up. Also getting your vitamins in pill form really doesn't compare to getting them through actual food. Vitamins are hard for the body to process so you don't absorb much of the vitamins you need compared to getting it through fruits and vegetables (brocolli has tons of vitamin C).

This is a good and short read about what you need for tendon health. Doesn't go into detail but it states the important bits. healthyeating.sfgate.com/nu…

Even with a great diet the most important thing is giving your body time to get used to climbing. You do need to work your muscles and tendons to improve them, but they need time to heal and develop. Learn the difference between feeling sore and feeling strained. Sore is good, strained is the step before injured. Don't get injured!!!

Oh and pick up a good stretching routine like yoga. Warm up before stretching. Stretching cold muscles and tendons (like right after waking up) can cause damage which results in the opposite of more strength and flexibility.

Of course you could always just climb and not worry about all of that crap like I do. However, all of that crap will help your body cope with climbing easier and faster.

You would probably be better off doing shorter sessions... which of course you don't want to do because you had a two-hour drive to get there. Consider buying a hangboard/building a little climbing wall at your home/finding some place to boulder. Then you could do shorter workouts that don't stress your tendons so severely, and not feel that it's necessary to climb for 6 hours at a stretch.

+1 for the hangboard advice after you learn the technique. I started last year and took a movements class that gave me the basic techniques that I needed in order to start strength conditioning.

Everything here is The Truth. Welcome to the wonderfully addictive world of climbing!

I will add these few things to the discussion: muscles get strong a lot faster than connective tissue (tendons, etc.) Bring them all along slow-w-w-wly, and you'll last longer. And have more fun!

Think about some sort of light strength training at home, since it's a long way to the climbing gym. Again, take it slow and easy.

Rest is a hugely important part of getting stronger. You're tearing down tissue; you have to give it time to rebuild itself to withstand the greater loads.

Polish your footwork. Your feet and toes are already stronger than they were five weeks ago. Standing on your feet takes an enormous amount of strain off your much-more-fragile fingers.

Lastly: tired is good. Feeling used the next day is good. Sore is okay. Pain is tellling you to simmer down before you do serious damage. Listen to these.

Ice