I am a chiropractor and climbing is something I always wanted to try. Unfortunately, living in Florida doesn’t give me many options other than an indoor gym. So I headed to a local indoor climbing gym. When I started to put on my climbing harness, my heart started pounding and my hands started to sweat. Then the carabiner was attached to my harness and the rope was tightened. It was time to climb.

I could hear my kids downstairs cheering me on with words of encouragement: “You’re only 25% of the way there, it’s easy, I climbed right over it, don’t look down.” I felt like I had been climbing for several minutes, although I’m sure it had only been a few seconds. My forearms were already burning. My fingers ached from the grip. Every muscle in my body was tense. I paused. I took a deep breath and gave myself some words of encouragement: “Don’t stop, take your time, it will be great!” My experience soon ended when I lunged for an overhead climbing grip that extended to the right. Instantly, the safety rope tightened and tightened my harness. I heard a voice screaming below “Relax, lay back, kick the wall, I got you.” I only got halfway there, but I was psyched up and determined to go further next time. My son was next and he maneuvered himself to the top like a little show.

So what gave me the idea to climb? I am a hand and foot chiropractor and several weeks earlier I began treating a patient who injured her wrist from climbing. As I mentioned, I wanted to try rock climbing, so next weekend off I gave it a try.

Rock climbing has become an increasingly popular sport and indoor climbing gyms are popping up everywhere. Although a small percentage of my patient population with wrist injuries were actually injured from climbing, I have seen several patients since my first climbing experience described above, which was several years ago.

The sport is very demanding providing great cardio and strength training. It is generally a safe sport, but injuries often occur from falls or overuse injuries. The literature data was varied with exact percentages, although it is safe to say that less than 20 percent were for falls and about 80 percent for overuse. The upper extremities (arms) had a much higher percentage of overuse injuries than the lower extremities (legs). The fingers constitute the highest percentage of injuries with 40 percent of all injuries. The shoulder accounts for 16 percent, the elbows for 12 percent, the knees for 5 percent, the lower back for 5 percent, and the wrists for 4 percent. (1) Other data indicate that carpal tunnel syndrome is very common in climbers. Up to 25 percent of climbers. (2)

These injuries often cause damage to tendons, ligaments, joint capsules, muscles, and, rarely, bone fractures. The most common injury is climbers’ finger, which is caused by damage to the flexor tendon pulley. (2) The crimped grip is the culprit. This is when the grip consists of a nearly 90 degree flexion of the middle finger placing an enormous amount of force load on the tendon.

So how are injuries prevented? One of the most important things to do is warm up. Not just the large muscle groups, but especially the fingers, hands, and wrists. Open and close your hands for about a minute. Then open and close your fingers for about a minute. Next, extend your arms in front of shoulder width apart with your palms facing up. Flip your hands palm down and then back to palm up. Repeat for 30 seconds. This also warms up the elbows and shoulders. Next, place your palms together in a prayer position on the middle of your chest. Elbows extended towards your side. Pull your hands down until your wrists are about 90 degrees relative to your forearm. Hold for 15 seconds and then relax by repeating about 5 times.

Also make sure you know your knots and climb with someone with belaying experience. Include strength training to target your forearm and hand muscles. This can be done by taking a 30 cm (30 cm) round stick. Punch a hole in it and slip an 18-inch string through it. Next, tie a large knot at one end of the rope so it doesn’t slip through the hole. The other end of the rope ties a 1 to 2 pound weight. The amount of weight will adjust as the force increases. Next, grasp the ends of the stick with both hands and hold it in front. Begin wrapping the rope around the pole by twisting your wrists until the weight wraps all the way up. Then, kick the weight back by twisting the stick in the opposite direction. Repeat 5 times. The fingers can be strengthened with a simple grip exercise.

Lastly, avoid overstretching, overexertion, use good judgment, and most importantly, know your limitations. Climbing can be a fun and safe sport if you follow these steps. If you sustain an injury to your hand, wrist, elbow, or shoulder, see a chiropractor who has specialized hand and wrist training. Have a great and safe time climbing.

References:

1) Doran, DA; Reay, M. (2000). “Injuries and associated training and performance characteristics in recreational climbers“The Science of Climbing and Mountaineering (A Collection of Scientific Papers). Human Kinetics Publishing.

2). Preston, Dayton. “Rock Climbing Reaching New Heights”. Hughston’s health alert. Retrieved January 11, 2011.