Pulley Injury - How Long to Wait

I know there is a ton of information on pulley injuries on the forum but I had a hard time finding the information that I was looking for. Really I am just looking to gauge other people's experiences and try to feel it out on what to do next.

A couple of days ago while in the gym, trying to get in shape for a trip to the red for labor day weekend, I pulled a dyno while using a two finger pocket. I heard/felt a very slight pop in the upper section of my elbow, the same arm that had the two fingers in the pocket. No real pain was felt, just felt tender in the pulley area of my hand and I continued to climb after that for another hour while carefully gauging how my finger felt (I know, not the best idea). The following days there was and still is a slight pain when I close my hand in the A2/A3 pulley area in my ring finger. I am about 3 days post that climbing session and pain is starting to subside slightly but I am holding off on the doctors since the pain is minimal and there is no swelling in the area. Not going to the doctors makes it hard to determine whether it is a strain/slight rupture of the pulley, I know this. My plan was to wait one week, see how it is feeling and go from there. My hope is at most 2 weeks off climbing since this would bring me to labor day weekend. I may not be in the shape I hoped for but at least I'd get to climb. 

So I was looking for advice/stories about some other people that have had a similar experience. People I have talked to at the gym said that they started climbing once the pain subsided and have been fine since then. Has this been the case for other people? Am I overthinking this? Or is it actually worthwhile to schedule a doctor's appointment and go through with an MRI and pay outrageous amounts of money to just find out that I have a strained pulley and I just need to wait a few weeks to climb. Just trying to get some opinions in the hope of not having my pulley explode while climbing due to me rushing this healing process.

I love these podcasts, I haven't used this protocol to train a finger injury myself, but this might be really helpful and answer a lot of your questions. Its really worth the listen. https://www.trainingbeta.com/media/esther-fingers/

I had a minor A4 tear 6 weeks ago.  I still feel that it's tweaked sometimes, so learn from my mistakes: avoid climbing on it and do PT protocols diligently.

Best of luck!

Katy Kelly wrote:

I love these podcasts, I haven't used this protocol to train a finger injury myself, but this might be really helpful and answer a lot of your questions. Its really worth the listen. https://www.trainingbeta.com/media/esther-fingers/

That was super helpful! Thank you so much. 

Detrick,

Did you have any significant pain? I feel like mine is not very severe since I was able to keep climbing without much thought, never felt like anything severe. Just the pop freaked me out and it felt a little off after that. Just trying to get a gauge for what I might have/severity, as hard as that actually is.

Mark,

I think I had a more severe injury than you.  The pop freaked me out enough to stop climbing for a few weeks, even though the pain was mild and infrequent (3/10 only when I pulled using just the injured ring finger or when I loaded it diagonally).  I'd be sure to take it easy for now but maybe it was minor enough that you'll be good to go in time for the Red.

I'm not a doctor, but I also doubt you need one for this situation.

Good luck!

I had a pop from a 2 finger pocket almost 4 weeks ago. Not much pain but definitely not right.  Play it safe and wait at least 6 weeks. Rest,ice,heat repeat. I'm also using a compression sleeve and supplements. (Collegen, Tumeric, Hyaluronicacid) because why not...

I had what I think was a partial pulley tear. In my case I never felt a pop, but my finger ached, and I stupidly kept climbing; after each session the pain got worse, until one day in the middle of the workout my whole finger swelled up and turned red and tender. That was the wakeup call I needed to stop climbing completely.

The swelling went down within a day. I didn't climb again until the pain was gone, 2 months I think? A long frustrating time. Then I used heavy taping and no hard pulling on that finger for about a month after.

I resumed around last February, and it's been fine since. So for me, once the pain was gone, it was safe to climb (with the taping and not using that finger for anything hard).

Thanks everyone for the stories and advice!

Currently I don't have much pain but when I add some weight onto that finger on the hangboard, just adding very little weight not actually hanging, there is something that still doesn't feel right. From the podcast that Katy recommended, it says to start testing it two weeks in and slowly start an easy hangboarding routine. I will most likely follow this advice assuming my finger feels up to it. Pretty much been listening to my body and just doing activities that feel right, which at the moment does not include climbing. May test it this weekend on some crack routes, hand size, to see if I could at least do some cracks at the red during labor day weekend.