Hand injury that won't heal

I've had a nagging hand injury for well over a year that won't completely heal. The original injury happened when I hung on a thumbs-up jam, and I've repeatedly reinjured it with similar motions (usually finger cracks, but I've also messed it up cranking on a hand jam on an overhang). This is all despite taking increasingly long rest periods from any climbing movements that aggravate it. But after being completely symptom free for rests as long as 3 months, after resuming normal climbing, I inevitably reinjure it.

Hand injury.

In the photo, the pen points to the location of pain, along the outside edge of the hand, about bit below the knuckle.

It doesn't seem to be a common climbing injury, based on MP posts and Dave MacLeod's book. So I wanted to post here and see if anyone had had a similar experience and had any suggestions on getting healthy.

Thanks!

You could see an orthopedist/hand specialist?

Per Frank: save your time and energy. See somebody who specializes in this stuff rather than posting here. You might by some slim chance get a little good advice. I emphasize "might." Go straight to somebody who knows what they're doing. You'll lose less time climbing and do less damage, and will certainly get the injury fixed.

Good luck, man.

K-
I work in healthcare rehabbing broken people, any injury that hasn't healed in a years time and gets aggravated that easily after resuming activity definitely has something going on that obviously won't heal well/completely on it's own.

To echo the other 2 posts, have a professional look at it, see if some imaging is warranted. Like flynn says, in the long run it'll save you a lot of time and headaches and get you back out on the rocks pain free sooner.
Good luck,
BA

Good advice, certainly. I've spoken with my GP more than once but I never made it to a specialist. The injury is in a good place at the moment, so I've been hesitant to follow up with the specialist without symptoms, but equally reluctant to crank on it. I should be able to have a worthwhile convo with the specialist despite not having symptoms though.

Thanks for the quick replies.

Kevin D. wrote:I've had a nagging hand injury for well over a year that won't completely heal. The original injury happened when I hung on a thumbs-up jam, and I've repeatedly reinjured it with similar motions (usually finger cracks, but I've also messed it up cranking on a hand jam on an overhang). This is all despite taking increasingly long rest periods from any climbing movements that aggravate it. But after being completely symptom free for rests as long as 3 months, after resuming normal climbing, I inevitably reinjure it. In the photo, the pen points to the location of pain, along the outside edge of the hand, about bit below the knuckle. It doesn't seem to be a common climbing injury, based on MP posts and Dave MacLeod's book. So I wanted to post here and see if anyone had had a similar experience and had any suggestions on getting healthy. Thanks!

Sounds like you shredded the tendon sheath and probably did some damage to the tendon during the jam. It wont repair itself; see a hand surgeon for sure.