Tendons of the hands. Mine seem to hate me!

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Training and Health
1

Recently, I was out rock climbing. I had just strapped on my climbing shoes and located an easy problem to warm up on. As soon as I grabbed onto the first holds and weighted my hands, I heard a pop in my right arm. I didnt feel any pain immediately, but it did startle me.

Stupidly, I decided to continue climbing the rest of the day; moreover, as the day progressed, my hand started to get more and more sore. Today I went to the emergency room, because I could feel that something was desperately wrong with my tendons. It turns out that I may have torn them :(. I have to go visit an orthapedic(sp?) doctor on monday and he should be able to help me.

This may seem off topic so far, but, since this forum deals with health, and my health also has an impact on my ability to train(Kung Fu), then perhaps this isnt so off topic.

Anywho, one to the question. What do you guys suggest to prevent future damage to my tendons(especially my hands, but also all tendons in my body). Weight lifting? Iron Palm?

Also, should dit da jow help at all?

This is thoroughly depressing for me to have hurt my hand. I normally lead a very active life, but now I can’t do much. Maybe its for the better though. More studying time ;). jk! hehe

Any help, suggestion, comments, criticisms, or flames would be appreciated.

Ok, maybe not the flames :wink:

Thanks
Herring

2

My suggestion is that you follow you doctors orders. The key to proper strength and rehabiltation is to listen to your therapist and stay fully commited to your prescribed routine.

Good luck healing!

“She ain’t got no muscles in her teeth.”

  • Cat
3

HHmmm

Liver Qi Stagnation I think is causing the Tendon problem.

4

Ouch! I climb too, so I know how frustrating it can be to get injured right at the end of a season.

Is it your hand? Or is it one of the tendons in your fingers? I can offer some advice on finger problems… but I’ve never been out with a full hand injury. There are some preventative steps you can take though.

First off, I know it’s going to kill you… but take some time off. Seriously, I think I’ve lost count of my bouldering buddies who ignored injuries, only to make matters worse for them a month down the road.

Second, if you’re climbing outside, take the time to make your approach your warmup. There’s nothing like a brisk twenty-minute hike at pace and a half to get your entire body warmed up. Yeah, if you climb trad and love your toys, hauling that pack up there is going to be a royal pain in the ass…

Third, y’know those little grip toys… they work for me… warm up my fingers before I get onto rock. Tape helps too. I usually favour an “x” style tape job on any fingers that are a bit sore. Recently my thumb acted up too, some tape at the base has helped keep the tendon in place. Stretching afterwards is crucial… can’t stress that enough.

Hmm. That’s about it. I also practice a set of chi-gung, external hand exercises which help flush soreness out of my finger joints. Try to find someone (after you heal) to show you some dynamic tension exercises for your hands… does wonders for any stiffness due to climbing!

hope that helped,
regards
TF

" I’ll play it first, then tell you what it is later…"

  • Miles Davis
5

hmm proper warming up before pulling on them ? What rock ? grit - You in UK ? I usually pull on sandstone.

[This message was edited by prana on 10-22-01 at 08:50 PM.]

6

I’m not sure of the rehab for a torn tendon is the same as a severed tendon. I had surgery on my hand for a severed tendon and nerve. I then proceeded to do physiotherapy for a couple months and then try to swing a golf club which caused the tendon to re-rupture. So after another surgery to re-attach the tendon i’ve lost a bit of movement with the finger. It has basically never affected me in life as it is a very small percentage but it’s still bothersome. If you are prescribed physiotherapy make sure you go…do what the therapist says…and practice what he says on your own a lot.

I remember how long it took for me…they had a grip meter there and I had 230lbs per square inch of pressure in my right hand and 27lbs in my left. :smiley:

7

Hey Prana!

I’m not sure who the questions were directed to, but I figure I’d give you a shout back.

The local crags are mainly granite / gneiss composites (if I remember correctly). There’s a good mix of trad and sport routes around here… there haven’t been any bolt cutting wars since the late 80s early 90s so the fixed pro is reliable (though not ideally placed in some cases).

I would love to climb trad in the UK! Someday…

As for the warming-up part… I find it really helps quite a bit. Generally, I find climbing outside a lot less intensive from my training indoors, so the approach and some grip exercises are enough to get me loose. I also alwyas start on an easy route. When I train inside I always start with joint rotations, and then traverse a couple of laps on “tendon-friendly” holds before roping up to top-rope or lead.

Hope this helped!

TF

" I’ll play it first, then tell you what it is later…"

  • Miles Davis
8

hey tricky :slight_smile:

cool. I used to do a lot more climbing, now I just boulder. I guess you are in the Canada where its cold and friction is wonderful.

Just thinking of granite and Ron Kauk on Midnight lightning :slight_smile: I dont even know of Midnight Lightning is actually granite, matters not. Very cool. That is one rock I have never had the chance to climb on, granite.

I spend a lot of time warming up too. What sorts of finger training do you do ? Over here in Sydney, far too many people spend too much time campusing, but they forget their technique, and hardly get up moderate routes. Quite sad really.

9

Finger exercises and climbing

Hey Prana!

Yeah, my local crags are kinda weird... although its hard to generalize, the mixture of rock (though predominately granite I believe) makes for some excellent face climbing.  Lots of crystals and small ledges to crimp like mad...

Sydney?  Man... friction or not, at least you guys don’t have to warm your hands over a camp stove between belays in Autumn.  Sigh.

Man, funny you should bring up the campusing / bouldering topic.  I’ve actually seen quite a bit of that over the last two months... i.e., people just starting out climbing who end up getting sucked into the bouldering caves and campus rungs at the gym.  No biggie I guess if they’re just there to have fun... well, I mean, so am I... but I climb indoors so I can climb better outdoors.  Most of my workouts concentrate on clean footwork and slow controlled movement on routes of varying length... less injuries and I can keep a level head when I lead.  I’ve seen a lot of injuries from too much bouldering too soon, along with some bad habits developing early on... nearly happened with me - I was just climbing too fast... no control.  One of the trad guys got me doing laps on the walls... fixed me up right! :)

I do some kung-fu finger drills - tiger claw dynamic tension exercises - and they do seem to help with any stiffness in my joints.  Mostly though, I just make sure I warm up well and make sure that I’m not throwing an excessive number of crimps into my routes!  Pull-ups on good holds, and dead-hangs on slopers are good enough until I develop a good strength base... But really, I just find that climbing challenging routes does the job over a longer period of time, but without blowing out your tendons!

Respects,
TF

" I’ll play it first, then tell you what it is later…"

  • Miles Davis
10

Hmm I think controlled aggression is cool, if you can use it whilst climbing fast, what’s this kids name, the American kid who ticked many 8c+'s of late, young guy, I think the reason he gets up these routes is that he hardly thinks, and just goes for it, quickly, and focussed on what he is aiming for. I admire the way he climbs. I think he climbs without mindless thoughts.

Also I remember meeting the almighty Steve McClure in Thailand, he said he was weak, and he sure was a wolf behind a lamb. For one, he is the nicest most humble ppl I have ever met, and when he was on the rock, he was the meanest climbing machine I ever met. Well than again, he pulled 9A’s recently :slight_smile:

So I think, climbing is very personal, some people climb for style, some people climb for power, and others climb for fun. I prefer to think climb for the latter.

My favourite crag, you might’ve heard in magazines, is called Sissy Crag in Forrestville, but unless you are Fred Nicole, many Europeans get spanked on the slopers because the friction is terrbile in the heat. Still, it is my local crag and I love it. Even when Monsieur Nicole statics all the dynos for a warm up, specifically a V7 named “P3nis Cling”, 5 years on this thing, it really humbles :slight_smile:

Regards to the gym, I actually find climbing int he gym more injurious because the tendons always assume the same shape. All my injuries occurred in the gym, except for the falls… but that is another story :slight_smile:

11

Injury

Take some time off! Also drink alot of water. It will help lubricate the joints and hydrate the muscles. Cut back on caffine and take basic vitamins. You just want to give your body all it needs to heal.

12

no-mind while climbing…

Hmm… I believe the climber you’re thinking of Dave Graham or Chris Sharma. Graham went through Europe with a vengance recently and ticked a lot of mad boulder problems and sport climbs. But, the attitude of no-mind really describes Sharma… this is the guy who doesn’t really train (he just climbs) and recently just ticked the world’s first 5.15 in Celuse, France (I think that’s a 9? for a UK rating?). I saw some footage of the climb and it was incredible… two and three finger sloping pockets and he just glides.

TF

" I’ll play it first, then tell you what it is later…"

  • Miles Davis
13

Thanks for all the replies and sorry I have not responded to anything. I am a college student, and I just had a lot of papers and tests this past week with more to come :(.

Prana
The local crags here are mostly sandstone, though some gritstone is available.

tricky-fist(and anyone else who mentioned warming up, I think maybe prana)

I usually try to warm up before I climb. Light stretches before hand. Then I move my fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, knees, and ankles to make sure my joints are lubed. That usually does the trick for me. After that I make a few runs on the easiest routes in the gym making sure to go slow, gentle and as relaxed as possible.

Once again, thanks for all the replies, and I am glad to see some fellow climbers on the board.

Seeya

14

tricky -

yup it was defn Chris Sharma. I don’t follow the stories that much, but I think it was an extension to the French brothers 8c+ followed by an 8C. I havent been chasing the “scene” to catch up with this Graham but he sounds like one mean climber.

herring -

Australian strongman, Saxson Johns, once showed me a little warm up he does before getting onto warm up climbs, and it looked tremendously like a tiger claw exercise.

Just a thought.

Defn good to see climbers here :))

15

Tiger claw warmups?

prana could you elaborate on this warmup or any similar warmups that you do? I have never done anything dealing with tiger claws(excepting a simple breathing exercise that my sifu taught me). Any good books, videos, etc. out there on tendon/whole hand strengthening exercises.

The other day, I accidentally hurt my hand doing a rolling backfist(I have no idea how I hurt it, thank go I dont think it has anything to do with my tendons, just a bruise). hehe, its official, my hands hate me :cool: