Collateral ligament finger injury

Doug Chism wrote:

Wondering if anyone has had success using a hang board to recover from strained collaterals. Seems like hanging on jugs and slopers could strengthen the fingers and get a lot of blood to the area without directly stressing the ligaments.

This 100%.  I have an ongoing finger issue that I believe is collateral (3 years!).  This is the ONLY thing that has ever helped me and I've tried everything.  A mellow fingerboard routine works like a charm, plus it helps with power and endurance a lot.  Oh, and use a rice bucket too. 

I've also personally found that taping does more harm than good.  Take it with a grain of salt.  My observations are purely anecdotal. 

I had three different doctors tell me that there is nothing physically wrong with my fingers. Clearly that wasn't the case. Even with imaging, I never got a solution besides 'stop climbing'. I went to several hand therapists and picked up a few stretches that have helped me gain some range of mobility, although not all of it. The biggest concern that the doctors seem to imply was range of motion. As long as I could regain the ROM over time and reduce swelling, it would prevent further injury to the joint. They also gave me a splint to correct the Boutonniere deformity (bend in finger). This is mostly to regain ROM.

It has been over year since my 'injury' and like you Meghan, I don't remember a single moment when it occurred. My finger still swells up, but the a majority of the pain, especially on the top part of the knuckle has gone away. The pain associated with lateral movement has also subsided completely but it took a LONG time for it to go away. Maybe almost 9 months? It still visibly looks swollen, but I am in a lot less pain and there is no ache associated with it anymore. I have taken up to two months off climbing, which significantly reduced the swelling, but never went back down to 'normal'. Here are a few practices that have helped me regain ROM and reduce swelling in the long run. The biggest of these is taking more time off, especially when you're still experiencing pain. If any of you find a better solution/tips for this, I'm all ears.

- Tendon Gliding.
- Finger Lifts.
- Nordic Naturals Fish oil.
- Less booze/ more or less inflammatory foods.
- Longer warm ups, especially at the crag.
- More days off between gym days. This was a hard one, but I pretty much don't go to the gym if the ROM on my finger is limited.

Here are few things that didn't help me.

- Icing using 'penguin fingers'. Although it took away inflammation, I didn't feel like my finger recovered any faster.
- Taping. No amount of H-taping, compression taping, buddy taping really seem to help.

Meghan Cartwright wrote:

Will, when you say your middle finger took six months to heal, do you mean six months no climbing... what did you do during the healing process? How is it now?

No, I climbed all through that recovery process, and pretty close to my limit.

I just avoided all finger cracks and two finger pockets, taped it to limit the range of motion and provide a little lateral support, and did the 20min icewater-bath treaments that MacCleod had recommended once or twice a day for a few weeks.

It's fine now, neither of them give me any problems, and I play way more hours on guitar these days than back then. I love hard thin cracks, and back then was doing a lot in that style, eventually realized that I needed more variety and to put some months between projecting things that put a lot of stress on those collateral ligaments.