Healing finger injuries (and other parts)

I found it very intresting to follow MacLeods reasoning in this. It is a controversial way of increasing blood flow and thus benefit the healing process. Having been involved  in humal thermal physiology research a couple of years I am convinced MacLeod reasoning is sound. There is however potential drawbacks if one tries to apply this other structures than fingers. As MacLeod correctly points out the potential treat in cooloing the fingers can be ignored by the body if the rest of it is in thermal balance and thus can a higher cirkulation be acheived locally in the fingers. This would not happen if trying the same method with shoulders, knees or a foot. To combine this strategy with "twin" taping of the fingers and  an antiinflammatory drug would most likely speed up healing. When working hard on smmall grips and crimpers it also makes alot of sense to profylactically  (to avoid injury) tape the cruciate ligaments in the base of the fingers  - exellent instruction and referall to scientific studies can be found in Eric J Hörst book "training for climbing". I am going to try to compile an article on fingers injuries and their remidies on the 8a forum so more input is wellcome Carpe diem Björn Alber

What about taking glucosamine chondroitin, they say it helps repairing and strehgthening joints

Hi Mattias Glykosamine is a registred  medicine to heal and prevent joint wear - chondroitine supposedly have an additative effekt to this. I have several patients that have foud that unsaturated omega oils ( from fish or seals) will promote the effect of the above - this is however not scientifically proven. I would however recommend this to any climber who wants to get an edge on joint problems. (The above however has little to do with the acute finger tendon pulley tears that this specific chat was debating) Try it - I think you"ll like it :-) Björn

I appreciate what you are doing in this forum, it is a great service.  My question also regards finger injuries.  Most talk revolves around tendon injury but my finger injury does not seem to fit into this category.  Lately the knuckles of my middle and third finger have been aching.  There is also a loss of flexibility in them.  When I curl my fingers in tight i feel sharp pains in the top sides of the knuckles.  There is also a slight bit of swelling that does not seem to go away with rest (I have tried up to four days). 

Hello Jens! The following advice I have from Dr. Volker Schöffl, a name probably known:) Qi-Quong balls are very good for fingers, due to various reasons: they increase bloodcirculation and get synovial fluids going, they massage the fingers in a very soft way and they are great for warming up and down...I´ve been using them ever since Volker reconmended them to me and I have never felt pains after bouldering, nor have I swollen joints or anything...they are only around 5 Euros in esoteric shops via online merchandise so you can easily give them a try...they are also reconmended in Volker`s and Thomas Hochholzer`s book to mend athrosis...hope your finger gets better, a rest of 4 days won`t cure a thing, sad as it is, but the many micro injuries which might have accumulated to cause your pains will probably take longer to heal...I can also say that I`ve been taking glycosamine capsules made from concentrated shell material since 3 years now and I can only say VERY positive things about them...30 Euros per month, that`s two beers less each weekend:)

Hi Jens I agree with the reasoning cited from Dr. Volker Schöff by Christian. All climbers subject themself to forces that subjects the loaded joints t o microtrauma. In the long run this most likely will increase the risk of arthritis ( and thus artrosis). Svollen and hurting finger joints is a sure sign of ongoing inflammation and is most likely due to overuse . In the acute (here and now) phase you should refrain from climbing alltogether at least a couple of weeks. If it hurts a lot ; cool the fingers with cold water or an icepack (with a piece of cloth inbetween to avoid damage to the skin). Hot immersion in water, antiinflammatory gel, antiinflammatory medication (2-4 weeks) will help to stop the inflammatory process. Massage and regularly stretch the fingers and start using gel balls or terapeutic clay regularly to work the fingers with (say 3 x 5 minutes per day) - this will by increasing the synovial fluid circulation help to prevent aggravation of the problem. When getting better restart the climbing activity but at a low level (vertical, big holds or slopers), Use hot water immersion regularly and continue to use the gel balls (always before climbing - to warm up!) Citing Dr. Volker Schöff - " there is a lot of climbers that have been on the cutting edge of climbing for many years but have developed no signs off arthritis. The ones that do develop arthritis seems to be the ones that doesn't take care of their injuries - climbs through them". Supplementing ( as mentioned above) your diet with Glykosamine (600mg daily) has scientifically been proven to help the joints to withstand stress better. Condroitin might also be beneficial (common as a combined suplement with Glykosamine in USA but not in europe) In medical practice I have found that adding high quality unsaturated fatoil capsules ( fish oil or even better seal oils) to this will multiply the effect (not scientifiacally proven as yet). So Jens ( and everybody else climbing hard) take svollen joint seriously - give it a break - be careful with the warmup and the stretching and you will be more likely to be a happy high end climber in the years to come and less likely to get unusable hands when older Carpe diem Björn

I just wanted to add that i been taking glucosamine + chondroitin for about 4-5 years now without suffering any side effects. i started doing that because i have a 'broken wrist' actually the scaphoid bone - this bone is one of the eight small bones that comprise the wrist,  is broken, I was operated but the bone never grew  together , so now one section is dead (no more blood) and this is rubbing against my other bones generating arthritis.  With the help of climbing (strengthening all my fore arm muscles) and glucosamine + chondroitin i believe i have been able to reduce the inevitable development of arthritis but more importantly i have no pain what so ever, something i had when i had followed the advice of may doctors to not move my wrist since thsi would advance the grinding and to discard glucosamine + chondroitin since it had no yet been validated.. there are many successful studies on glucosamine + chondroitin but unfortunately they were al done on animals. How ever  can personally say that during the last 5 years there have been periods in which i stopped taking G&C 7 i did notice a n increase in pain.. Again this is a personal experiance but i thought it was worth sharing

Hi there, I'm after advice on my finger joints - it seems there are a few of us! I've been taking glucosamine / chondroitin since I had tweaky hands within the first 3 months of me learning to climb (I've only been climbing a year now), loving it, and going as often as I could. Doubtless my fingers were in shock at the new stresses on them! Things were fine for a few months and I progressed to leading indoors and started working 6b's about a month ago. I'm still taking the chon / gloc but less regularly and my fingers have become tweaky again. I'm hoping its because of the smaller more difficult holds and the unsure footing again until I can get my technique up to 6b standard - all adding to more pressure again on my fingers. I've also been working on overhanging routes for the past 2 months which I know add the streess as well. My question is, can my joints accommodate to this, or is it likely I've found a glass ceiling because of my biology? I know I could do with stretching more and I'll down grade my climbing for a bit too to ease off. Help!  

Hi Kempo I think you only will have to cut back on crimps and overhangs a bit and have a litle more patience in building up a tolerance for the intensive load put on the fingers in climbing. Most climbers develop their skill over several years - today climbers tends to start out young and develop the body parallel with their climbing. Please read through the above diskkusions around layoff from hard cimbing, stretching and using stressballs as well as complementary use of antiinflammatory drugs. Carpe diem Björn

Hi Dr. i've  been climbing for some years and  the  last  four  monthsbeen climbing more  often so i started to take glucosamine and chondroitin 3 weeks ago. The past 2 weeks i was working  in a crimpy route,and  i felt  a lil bit  of   pain in my finger joints 2 weeks ago  but i wasnt  sure it was serious. This  weekend i got a real pain and discomfort in 3 fingers even  while i wasnt  climbing i realized i haven drank enough water. Of course im gonna  rest and quit  with  the route  but  my  questions are?? -Which  drug works   better? diclofenac or ibuprophen? -Im taking  about 1500gs of glucosamine and 1200 of chondroitin but  a  friend  of  mine  said  that  its  a low  doses he  use to   take  4000 everyday for  45 days and 1  month of  rest then  again  1 month of  pills.,How  much do i have  to take? - Put  fingers in  hot and cold  helps?? -any  suggestions  ?  something else i can  do? Thank you but you know  im  worried i  don t want  to stop for  long  time  or get worse

Hi Jaime As you yourself have realised this is not a good sign and it is time to shut down the climbing for at least 10 days. The amount of glukoseamin you are taking is allready more than what scientific studies have proven to be enough to be effective so keep that up - don't increase the dose. When it comes to non steroid antiinflammatory drugs different people react diffrently to the same drug - in general diclofenac is more effective but also will tend to give more stomach trouble. Take an adequate dose ( 3 tablets at 50 mg each every day for a least 3 weeks) - take the medication together with the food. This beeing more of an overuse injury I would only recommend for you to use warm water treatment. When you start up again try to keep your level far below your maximum and avoid crimpers for a couple of more weeks. Good healing & good climbing :-) Björn