Ring finger pocket injury

Hey all, looking for advice on the fastest safe way to get back to climbing.

I tweaked my fingers yesterday on a ~1 cm pocket/edge using a stacked middle + ring finger. No loud pop, no bruising, and range of motion is basically normal. At rest pain is ~0–1/10, but any load on the ring finger (and now the middle too) hurts. Finger loading also triggers ulnar-side forearm discomfort from the wrist up toward mid-forearm.

I'll go Yosemite in 5days( to try midnightlightning)　so my priority is being able to climb without making it worse.

Thank you!

Likely tendon, tendon pulley injury. They take some time (months) to heal because tendons do not have much blood flow. The pain up your arm is more concerning. Normally one would buddy tape fingers or individually tape each finger. Given the time line and grade, you are better off watching Midnight Express as you are likely to do more damage on Midnight Lightening.

Your symptoms more closely resemble a lumbrical injury than a pulley injury.

To echo SMC, from my understanding lumbrical injuries often come in tandem with finger flexor injuries, which I believe corresponds to the pain you're feeling up to the forearm. Especially given that it was a pocket with a dropped pinkie that further suggests a lumbrical.

I'm not a rehab expert but the good thing is that lumbrical injuries tend to heal quickly (not 5 days quickly though...) and it's easy to shield them by keeping your pinkie on.

I'd see a PT if you can afford it — I've never regretted seeing a climbing-focused PT for an injury.

the forearm pain going up from the wrist is what would worry me most here honestly. other people already mentioned lumbrical which makes sense given the stacked pocket position, but the ulnar side forearm involvement could also point to ECU irritation or even a minor TFCC issue from the loading angle. those things dont like being pushed through. i know midnight lightning is the dream but 5 days is just not enough time for any of these to settle down enough to climb safely on it. i tried pushing through something similar on a trip once and turned a 3 week injury into a 4 month one. if you do go, id at least tape the ring and middle together and absolutely avoid pockets. but realistically the smart move is to go enjoy yosemite, do some easy slab, and come back for midnight lightning when youre healed