Ring finger hurts after big load (open-handed)

Andreas Bruckmeier

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Hi, today i tried a boulder with a good two-finger-undercling which i must block to do a big reach to another hold. The hold is about 0.5 meters above the footholds. I took the undercling with the middle & ring finger (open-handed) and as i did the reach, there was a sharp and stiching pain in the region of the wrist. Now i can´t put any noticable load on my ring finger without pain. With a absolutely minimal load (about 0.5 kg) it hurts behind the wrist and when i raise the load just a bit the pain moves up to the ring finger itself. Is this description sufficient enough for a rough diagnose what happened here or is it useless? It´s hard to describe the boulder and the exact motion that led to the pain in words. Best regards, Andi

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User Deactivated

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I've had the same thing twice now. It's the ring finger of my left hand- it's probably because it's quite weak from not being used so much in strenuous ways normally. I think it's some kind of slight rupture/stretching in the tendon. It's been fine after a week or two of resting...

Christian Knoll

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I had a similar injury a while ago. Actually it looks like you ve hurt your flexor- tendon - the one which attaches your muscles to the finger. I'm quite sure that it is nothing too serious as you can't hardly rupture it totally as it is quite strong. A few weeks (maybe 3-4 weeks) and easier climbing should do a good thing. P.S if you wanna tape it - tape from the muscle to the finger and fix it at the attache-point the wrist and the finger itself. If you hurtet your deeper tendon(the one which goes to the first part of the finger) crimping with the hurted hand should also help...

anderfo

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try to avoid splitting your fingers like that (middle+ring). you'd better choose side (index+middle or ring+little) to save your tendons. i think i've read about it before, and you might want to search through the rock & ice forum to find the explanation (i remember it as a very logical explanation based on which tendons are connected to which fingers). ...and you might even want to ask there and get a reply from a real expert instead of listening to a jerk like me ;)

Andreas Bruckmeier

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Thank you guys - you where right ;-) Today i was by a doctor and it is just a stretching of the deeper tendon as Christian mentioned. Two weeks rest or easy climbing without finger-pockets, side-holds and underclings should do it. @anderfo: i think you point at the "Lumbrical Shift Syndrom" with your advice to use other finger pairs. Luckily this diagnose does not apply in my case, but i think you are right with the mentioned connection of tendons. This would explain why the little finger now hurts nearly the same as the ring finger even if it wasnt used in the move. I thank you all for your effort and wish you a happy climbing-future! And sorry for my partly horrible english ;-) Best regards, Andi