Preventative hand/finger injury training

I have recently been reading a lot about the amount of hand/finger injury, specifically to the tendons, in rock climbers and was curious to know if there are some good exercises to prevent these types of injuries. Would it be just some grip strength training exercises or is there more to it?

Casey,

In general, I try to ramp up the difficulty level on highly crimpy stuff gradually. Also, I've found that if I tape my fingers that I tend to avoid finger injuries more often. (Part of this is simply that the tape helps remind me to be careful, part of it may be that the tape provides some extra support. Either way it seems to work.) Also, in whatever exercises you wind up doing, make sure to work your fingers through a full range of motion.

Hi Casey,

Unfortunately, there isn't much (any?) research wrt to prehabilitation for hands/fingers for climbers. (I mean, you know, we aren't exactly high on the list for research dollars.)

Aside from blunt force trauma, typically tendon/muscle injuries occur due to weakness, overuse (i.e. way too much repetition, often combined with not enough rest), faulty biomechanics in the joint, or sometimes motor firing patterns gone askew as a sport movement is carried out.

I would say most climbers do not have weakness in the musculo-tendinous unit of their hands/fingers, though. Many climbers believe their tendons are not strong enough, which may or may not be true, but tendons are still not well understood by research so climbers base a lot of their beliefs on old research carried out on excised tendons in a lab dish.

Anyway, I am personally doubtful grip strength training would be preventative. Many climbers' grip is already far beyond "normal" values (especially those who climb regularly). Also, grip strengtheners usually strengthen you in movements we call isotonic. But this does not carry over to climbing grip strength that exactly, as everything we do with our hands is isometric in nature.

I agree with Geir that ramping up difficulty over time is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Also, getting adequate rest/recovery. How much rest is required will vary from person to person: everyone has somewhat different connective tissue, not to mention age and training status (as well as nutrition) can play a large role in recovery, so there is no one-size-fits-all.

Btw, crimpy routes usually don't injure the tendon itself, but rather the tendon sheath (the pulley). Training open hand grips is important for this reason. Unfortunately, sloper training can cause tendon injuries (it's all in the biomechanics as to what gets most stressed in different positions).

Lastly, stretching both wrist flexors and extensors of the forearm during and after climbing (and other times, but I would not recommend directly before climbing) can help maintain flexibility (although this may not do anything to prevent injury).

Taping will probably only reduce forces on your pulleys (NOT on your tendons), and only by a small percentage. Not to mention tape stretches very quickly after you start climbing, at which point it decreases those forces even less. So, I would say taping may be a mindful thing more than doing anything actually biomechanical.

I think tape increases your chances at finger injuries especially on open handed holds as it decreases your friction and makes you pull harder.

Tape only when you are hurt (or recovering from an injury)is my motto....

I just ruptured a pulley in my left ring finger and I didn't even see it coming. I had pain in other fingers even, and this one blew out without any warning. Pulley ruptures of the ring and middle finger are one of the most common climbing injuries according to available literature. It seems that an overloaded crimp grip is typically what makes the pulley pop.

Train open hand? Tape the pulleys on both ring and middle fingers perhaps? I'm not sure what I could have done to prevent this though.

i don't have any science backing this up but if balancing tendon/muscle condition applies to fingers maybe something like fingertip pushups would help. I do these and haven't had any finger injuries, though that doesn't necessarily mean anything. theraband finger extensors would help under the same principle, though i like the idea of fingertip pushups because of the isometric nature of the stress placed on my fingers. shoot this down if this makes no sense.

jakobi wrote:i don't have any science backing this up but if balancing tendon/muscle condition applies to fingers maybe something like fingertip pushups would help. I do these and haven't had any finger injuries, though that doesn't necessarily mean anything. theraband finger extensors would help under the same principle, though i like the idea of fingertip pushups because of the isometric nature of the stress placed on my fingers. shoot this down if this makes no sense.

jakobi,

I suspect fingertip push-ups work the finger flexors far, far more than the finger extensors, but I also haven't done them. Still, you are not supporting yourself by extending your fingers against the ground, right?

I also think finger extensor exercises (done with a theraband or putty) is more applicable to treating injuries at the other end of the tendon--at the origin on the elbow. Also, such exercises should be done very prudently else you risk getting a flaming case of extensor tendonitis (per my former hand therapist, herself a climber).