ring finger pulley area pain

I have in the past had a few ring finger pulleys pop. Weather or not I have completely ruptured the pulleys is unknown but I seem to think its likely? Anyway, the last of those injuries was over 3 years ago. Each one took a couple/three months to heal to where I could climb again. I'm talking severe pain doing everyday things tike tying my shoes.

Now, I have 2 kids under 3 and so I only get outside a couple times a month if im lucky but I just built a decent woody in my garage. I built it a little to steep for my liking but was surprised at what I could actually climb on. I warmed up every time I climbed on it but not long after it was finished I spent an evening really trying to get a good workout. I dont remember any sharp pain that night at all but the next day I was really tender around my right pulley area. Mostly on the palm side of course. That was over a month and a half ago I would guess, and the pain still is there. Never sharp pain unless I get direct pressure on the area (example: doing pull ups with a ring on that finger). The bad part is the only other time I get the pain is when I crimp (yeah yeah I know, dont crimp). Doesn't even have to be a hard crimp. Any move I do with my finger in the crimp position is painful. I feel no pain when I stretch my forearms.

Anyone have any insight or advise? I have a 10 day trip to City of Rocks in a month and I am trying to get back some sort of endurance. Is this common for post pulley ruptures? A couple years ago (before kids) I was back up to my peak with no issues like this. Ice? Heat? Should I tape around the base of my finger when I climb? That almost makes the tenderness worse because of the pressure on the area. Any insight or help would be appreciated.

Adam

I either popped the pulley or ruptured the sheath on my ring finger almost 2 years ago, and it was 4-5 months before i could climb again. At first, it continued to be sore when I would climb. However, after the first few months of climbing again, the tendon strengthened and hasn't bothered me again since.

In your case, since you damaged it a few times, it sounds like it unfortunately didn't heal properly. Honestly, we both know it's not worth pushing yourself until the pulley pops again. If I were you, I'd try to force myself (because it wouldn't be easy) to take the difficulty down a couple of notches, and really focus on just endurance. You'll be a lot happier climbing a ton of nice routes on your trip than climbing a handful of hard routes, and you'll slowly start strengthening that finger again.

Or even better, instead of city of rocks (which I admit I'm not familiar with), go somewhere where you can do 10-pitch climbs. You don't need hard routes when you're 1000 ft off the ground, and it'll be much lower impact (doing easier climbs) on your finger.

Best of luck! I know how frustrating it can be.

The strength of your 'healed' pulleys depends on a lot of factors but perhaps the most important factor is the success at which the new collagen was able to remodel. In an ideal world, after the acute inflammatory and tissue proliferation stage of healing (3-6 weeks), you would begin to apply slow, steady, progressively increasing stress to the new collagen. You do this by actually using your fingers in flexion; it doesn't have to be climbing. Your body has a very helpful mechanism for telling you when the stress is too much for proper healing....pain. Too much too soon and you tear the pulley (again) and start over at the acute inflammatory stage. Too little stress and your 'healed' pulley remains weak and susceptable to a new tear. Collagen remodeling is a long process that is still occurring a year after the initial tear.

The fact that you're feeling pain at the site of an old injury is highly suggestive that you strained (ie: torn on some level)the remodeled (remodeling) collagen. Is it safe to climb on? I don't think anyone can answer that question. Common sense would say that if you are going to climb then support the area with tape and pick your climbs carefully.

I've had the same issue (except my tendons have never ruptured). The pressure on the area has been driving me nuts because pullups hurt! How do you strengthen anything if the largest, friendliest grip hurts?

However, I also can open-hand and be ok. So I've adjusted my pullup grip to be an open handed grip. I've had this issue for probably 2-3 months now. Working back up, and it is getting stronger, but slowly.

Jon, thanks for your description. That is very helpful.

One word.... Tape

I sort of loosly wrap tape, like a ring, to help the finger pulley not go straight on you.

Don't do it to tight, that hurts.

good luck

Hi Adam,

You said, "I know, I know, don't crimp". But there really is a sound biomechanical reason for this. The link below is apparently from an engineering course at Purdue University. I'm not sure how your math/physics/engineering skills are, but I found it very interesting.

Unfortunately, the first half (or more) is irrelevant to this discussion. Page through, and start on page 23.

engineering.purdue.edu/...i…

I'm not sure why this link is not "clickable", I inserted it into the "add link" selector. Please feel free to make it easier to access.

onceahardman: your link isn't the full URL, which is why it's not clickable. See the ellipses (...) in there? You'll need to grab the full address for it to work right.