Pain through fingers and wrist after pulling on pocket

Hi all,

After pulling on a 2-finger pocket, felt a sharp-ish pain through my middle and ringer fingers that accompanied a crunching sensation down through my wrist.

Pain continued to feel like it was radiating down my arm for a few minutes but cooled down. Motions like crimping aren't painful, but when mantling and pushing my pal away from the base of my fingers I felt some pain.

I haven't had much luck searching theae symptoms online but may just not have the words for what the actual injury is.

Sound familiar to anyone/anything I should be looking into?

2 finger open grip pockets can strain your flexor tendon,  I've done that a couple times, but don't remember any wrist crunching. Where is the pain now? If you load the ends of those 2 fingers in an open grip position does it hurt down through the palm and into the forearm? That would be a pretty good sign that you overloaded things. If it is a flexor tendon you should be able to rest it a couple weeks and then ease back into things. If you have wrist pain it could be a tfcc issue or something else. But I'm no doctor, just some guy who gets broken once in a while.

PeterW Whitmore wrote: 2 finger open grip pockets can strain your flexor tendon,  I've done that a couple times, but don't remember any wrist crunching. Where is the pain now? If you load the ends of those 2 fingers in an open grip position does it hurt down through the palm and into the forearm? That would be a pretty good sign that you overloaded things. If it is a flexor tendon you should be able to rest it a couple weeks and then ease back into things. If you have wrist pain it could be a tfcc issue or something else. But I'm no doctor, just some guy who gets broken once in a while.

Thanks for the reply! Loading as you suggested with the open grip definitely hurts a bit down through into the underside of my wrist/forearm. Pain extends from the base of the fingers where they meet the palm.  It's not severe but merits some time away as you mentioned. I'll look into tfcc to keep an eye out for other symptoms. 

T M wrote: You need stronger fingers. Kidding, what a douche thing to say. I experienced something very similar on a recent outdoor climbing trip. As Peter said, rest is your friend right now. I would take it slow upon returning, stay away from shallow pockets and tiny crimps, and I would recommend open handing everything until the pain subsides.

Fair enough :) agreed with you and Peter on the rest front (as is so often the case). 

Power company podcast episode 153 with Natasha Barnes.

This might be relevant:

https://theclimbingdoctor.com/pocket-change-adapting-the-way-you-pull-on-pockets/

You'll want to give those pocket pulling muscles a rest if they're sore.  If you do any non pocket climbing while your hand/forearm recover, buddy taping fingers is said to help to avoid dropping a finger on a crimp.