Experience with and Recovery from Skier's Thumb (UCL Tear with Avulsion Fracture)

I injured my thumb three weeks ago laying out for a frisbee (I didn't catch it). Thinking I simply jammed it, I just waited for it to get better. It did not get better. Fast forward three weeks, I finally went to an ortho clinic, where they did an X-ray and said I had a UCL tear (they're not sure if it's partial or full) and an avulsion fracture in my thumb. They gave me a removable brace for immobilization. The PA told me it would probably heal in four to six weeks and would not likely need surgery, but they set me up with an appointment to see a specialist next week to evaluate it more and set next steps.

Does anyone have experience with this injury and have a recovery story to tell? Any lasting impacts on climbing performance? I'd like to believe it will be good to go in four to six weeks, but a search of past MP threads makes it seem like it could be much much longer, though those cases involved surgery.

I had a complete UCL tear several years ago requiring surgery, so not sure if my experience is generalizable to yours, but...

I was in a cast for about 4-6 weeks, but was able to climb even while in the cast.
Did PT for another 6-8 weeks.
Never recovered full mobility in the thumb, can't abduct as far on that side. (that is, into the hitchhiking position)
On the other hand, managed to get back full strength with pinch block exercises.

Definitely see a hand specialist.

Thanks for sharing! What were the limitations for climbing in the cast? I did climb before going into ortho, and managed some 5.7/5.8s (pardon the spray), but I’m sure it didn’t help things; how can you avoid moving the thumb at all?

Sorry to take so long replying.
No limitation to climbing with the cast once I got them to flex my wrist a little more and to make the wrist bulge thinner. Otherwise it pushed my hand too far away from the holds.
Obviously couldn't pinch anything, but open or half crimp grips were fine.

I really don't remember all the details, but I may have had a thumb spica splint for a while after I got out of the cast. It holds your thumb in position. You could ask if this is a possibility for you.

I doubt climbing hurt your thumb that much, just might've slowed recovery.

I have a friend who's had a complete UCL tear for >10 years and still climbs 5.13. Just can't pinch on that hand. 

Mark E Dixon wrote: Sorry to take so long replying.
No limitation to climbing with the cast once I got them to flex my wrist a little more and to make the wrist bulge thinner. Otherwise it pushed my hand too far away from the holds.

Obviously couldn't pinch anything, but open or half crimp grips were fine.

I really don't remember all the details, but I may have had a thumb spica splint for a while after I got out of the cast. It holds your thumb in position. You could ask if this is a possibility for you.

I doubt climbing hurt your thumb that much, just might've slowed recovery.

I have a friend who's had a complete UCL tear for >10 years and still climbs 5.13. Just can't pinch on that hand. 

That's just plain ridiculous.

Pinch strength came back just fine. Took a few months, maybe even half a year to fully recover in that hand.
I still don't have equal mobility, right thumb vs left,  but that may be due to the specific surgical approach, which was a little old school.
I have short fingers anyway, so that hiders me on wide pinches, worse now after the injury, but "you go to war with the army that you have"

Turns out it's only a partial tear and will not require surgery. The doc said it has been healing on a pace similar to if I had actually gotten it looked at right away; I guess climbing on it didn't make it any worse, thankfully (credit to youth, health and athleticism). It should be almost back to normal in a couple more weeks (7 weeks from t he injury) and it eventually should recover fully. However, climbing will be the last thing it is ready for again.

I'll post an update in a few weeks so the next person who gets this injury and searches the forum (who does that anyway?) will have something to go off of. But also feel free to PM me, future injured person.

I’ve got one on my left from skiing, I’ve re-torn it a couple times as well. With PT, I can use it pretty normally — no big pinches with that hand, and I have some arthritis in it so I can’t reach the trigger on big cams — but I’ve adapted pretty well. 

I had a UCL injury (incomplete, didn't require surgery) with a small avulsion fracture to my right thumb in 2015 at the age of 36.

I wore a custom plastic splint that immobilized the MCP joint but allowed me to move the IP joint for 8 weeks total.  I was able to work while wearing the splint.  I didn't climb with the splint on, I took a couple months off climbing to make sure I didn't re-injure it.   I climbed again shortly after taking the splint off.  The thumb was stiff for many months afterwards but didn't impact me too much, function was fine.  Fist jams with my thumb curled in my hand were tough for about 6 months but doable.  It was stiff for 9-12 months but never limited me functionally.  Years later it doesn't limit me whatsoever.  

You'll be fine (especially at your age), just follow the instructions.  The most important thing is to not re-injure it while it's healing.  You'll set yourself back if that's the case.  2 months isn't a big deal in the long run.

Andy, sorry to hear about your thumb.  I had skiers thumb a couple of winters ago (one of the back loops at Mirror Lake) and ended up having surgery - it was fully torn.  I'd say I've gotten pretty full recovery.

Thanks for all the input, guys! It's helpful to establish some realistic expectations.

I'm just concerned that, by the time I'm fit to go again, all the rocks and ice will be gone. But that kind of geological phenomenon probably won't happen in two months, huh?

Thank you all for posting. I am 5 days out since surgery for complete rupture ucl left thumb. This thread gives me hope and some information that seems quite useful. Andy how are you doing now? Brat did you need surgery? Any PT tips?Doug do you have any other advice with prepping to climb again after surgery? A few months is short in the grand scheme of things but Utah is gorgeous right now I am stoked to get climbing asap.  

I checked in with the doc at  the end of July, and he said the healing was well on track. I asked if I'd be ready to climb by September (13 weeks after injury), and he advised against it; however, his reasoning was not that I would injure the thumb more, but that a weak, painful thumb would make it more likely I'd fall.

I swapped a sport-climbing trip out for some easier alpine trad; it went well. My pinch strength was still not quite there; some jams hurt; and random configurations bothered it, but I felt comfortable that I wouldn't injure it more. Instead of pushing my limits toproping or sport climbing, I took the time to get some easy trad under my belt, so I still feel I got a lot of value out of the climbing I was able to do. I injured a different finger on that trip, so I haven't climbed in the past month or so; so, I expect it to be even better soon.

All in all, the injury took away about two good months of climbing, and it still (now 19 weeks later) hurts a wee bit to squeeze certain ways with that hand, but I am happy I didn't push it any further than I did. I've taken all 19 weeks off of water polo, but I plan to get back to that soon; I expect that will give me more insight into how bad the lasting damage may be.

I had a surgical repair 20 years ago -- idiot ski injury -- when I had just begun climbing.  My advice:  do the time in the cast (don't risk falling on it), then get some good physical therapy.  After 6 weeks of that, I was measured with pinch strength close to Chris Sharma's (and I was, and oh yes, still am, a little old lady.  Unfortunately, I did not then, and do not now, climb like Chris Sharma, but even in old age, my hands are one of the stronger elements in the chain.) Only slight reduction in extension, none in flexion, not significant in any context.  I still have a steel pin in it.  

In other words: a good recovery of the thumb is possible if connected to a reasonably patient semi-sentient person who submits to the right medical care.

Tore my RCL 3 years ago (opposite side of thumb vs UCL).  After 4 weeks of rest it was clear my strength wasn’t returning so they surgically repaired the ligament.  After 2 months of pt most of my strength was restored and at this point my thumb is mostly back to normal, albeit with slightly limited range, and the joint still has a bit of swelling/scar tissue.  

It does not effect my climbing, except for that one time I ripped out of a hand jam and got an avulsion on scar tissue... hurt like hell and healed slowly.  Given the choice I would absolutely do surgery again.