Hand Jamming & Trigger Finger

Hey all,

So been climbing a few years now and have this thing that is starting to regularly happen when I climb routes that involve a lot of hand jamming.  It sounds like 'trigger finger', but basically after placing my hand in a crack in the hand jam position (thumb across palm, fingers angled towards side of crack) and loading it, when I remove my hand from the crack and go to make the next move, my right index finger gets stuck in a slightly bent position and I have to give it a couple tries at flexing it open before it pops free again (no popping sound, but that's the feeling).  No pain associated with this.

This definitely has a relationship with jamming specifically for me, it first came up on day three of a trip to the Creek, and since then whenever I've done a lot of hand jamming.  As I see it, it is either a thing I need to rehab, maybe with tendon exercises etc., or maybe also due to incorrect hand jamming technique?  The first thing a more experienced friend of mine brought up was people jamming with their fingers bent (like trying to crimp the side of the crack), but I don't do that, my fingers are straight when I jam.  So don't know what else it could be due to?

Any advice or similar experiences?

K

See a hand surgeon/doctor.

As someone who is in no way qualified to give medical advice, I would recommend some finger extensions exercises.

There are various elastic hand exercises devices you can get, and a quick google search will show you some of the common motions that can help.

As climbers we really only work our contracting muscle groups for the most part. Muscle imbalances may lead to weird things like that.

Go see a real doctor! 

Have you ever dislocated this finger?  I have a similar thing happen with one of my pinkies and it's been that way since I dislocated it playing football about a decade ago.  Doesn't only happen when climbing but anytime I put tension on my hand for a long time with the finger in a straight(ish) position.

I'm no doctor, but I did get trigger thumb 4 years ago. It got to where I would have to force my thumb into either the open or closed position before I could proceed. It was painful snapping it open or closed, but once done, it was fine. I could draw, work on the car, or hand jam just fine, but I always had to force the thumb into position first.

Eventually I got annoyed and saw a hand surgeon. He told me to think of a truck driving under a bridge that is too low. The truck pops through, but it scrapes on the bridge. 

He said he could make the 'bridge higher' by simply snipping out some tissue. It was fixed instantly in a 10 minute surgery. He numbed my hand, I felt a few tugs.

He told me to flex my thumb while still in surgery and it was perfect. No rehab, no pt, nothing. I was climbing in two weeks. I also just got back from weeks at the Creek. My thumb was the least of my worries.

You seem young to need this, I was 64 at the time. Perhaps it's something else?