Climbing injuries - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This article will mainly cover climbing related injuries occurring when sports or rock climbing

Rock climbing

Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...

due to overuse i.e. Sports injury. Fortunately, only a small number of climbing injuries are acute traumas due to falls - the rest
falls into the overuse injuries category that most commonly occur in the fingers, elbows, and shoulders. Though in all honesty the most common injuries are no worse than torn calluses

Callus

A callus is an especially toughened area of skin which has become relatively thick and hard in response to repeated friction, pressure, or other irritation. Rubbing that is too frequent or forceful will cause blisters rather than allow calluses to form. Since repeated contact is required, calluses...

, cuts, burns and bruises.

Falls

Injuries from falls are rare in indoors sports climbing, but do happen, especially in lead climbing

Lead climbing injuries

The sport of rock climbing offers great opportunity for exciting recreation, but it is a sport of extremes. It offers the exhilarating experience to push beyond human capacity and conquer the rock; however, sometimes fear inhibits the exhilaration. The greatest potential for injury occurs when a...

. Fractures (broken bones) of the ankle and tibia (shin bone) are commonly seen in climbers who have fallen. In some cases, falling can cause severe injuries to the head, neck, and back, resulting in impairment or even death. For the conservative climber who tend to climb well within his limits a fall might have more severe repercussions due to his body not being used to the strain of falling, such as whiplash injuries, bitten tongues, broken wrists and ankles. Hence practice falling within a safe environment in order to get used to the sensation of falling and teaching the body appropriate reflexive responses might be a good idea.

Top-rope climbing

Severe falls do happen in top-rope climbing; they seem mainly to occur due to the human factor. Usual reasons consist of poorly performed Figure-eight loop and/or distracted climbing partner.

Bouldering

Bouldering injuries tend to happen due to:

lack of warm-up
heavy muscle fatigue
repetitive moves

Risk groups

The climbers most prone to injuries are intermediate to expert within lead climbing or bouldering.

Overuse injuries in climbing

In terms of overuse injuries a British study found that:

40 percent occurred in the fingers
16 percent in the shoulders
12 percent in the elbows
5 percent were the knees
5 percent back
4 percent wrists

One injury that tend to be very common among climbers is Carpal tunnel syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is an entrapment idiopathic median neuropathy, causing paresthesia, pain, and other symptoms in the distribution of the median nerve due to its compression at the wrist in the carpal tunnel. The pathophysiology is not completely understood but can be considered compression...

. It is found in about 25% of the climbers.

Finger injuries

604 injured rock climbers were prospectively evaluated from January 1998 to December 2001, due to the rapid growth of new complex finger trauma in the mid 1980s. Three of four of the most frequent injuries were related to the fingers: pulley injuries accounted for 20%, tendovaginitis for 7%, and joint capsular damage for 6.1%.

Pulleys

Damage to the flexor tendon pulleys that encircle and support the tendons that cross the finger joints is the most common finger injury within the sport (aka climber's finger

Climber's finger

Climber's finger is the most common Climbing injury within sports or rock climbing. It is an overuse injury that usually manifests in a swollen middle or ring finger. It is due to a damaged flexor tendon pulley, normally the A2 pulley and normally caused by trying to support your body weight...

).
You can blame the common crimp grip, especially in the closed position, as the main culprit for pulley related injuries. In using the crimp grip, near ninety-degree flexion of the middle finger joint produces tremendous force load on the A2 pulley. Injuries to the A2 pulley can range from microscopic to partial tears and, in the worst case, a complete rupture. Some climbers report hearing a pop, which might be a sign of a significant tear or complete rupture, during an extremely heavy move (e.g. tiny crimp, one- or two-finger pocket). Small partial tears, or inflammation can occur over the course of several sessions.

Grade I - Sprain of the finger ligaments (collateral ligaments), pain locally at the pulley, pain when squeezing or climbing.
Grade II - Partial rupture of the pulley tendon. Pain locally at the pulley, pain when squeezing or climbing, possible pain while extending your finger.
Grade III - Complete rupture of the pulley causing bowstringing of the tendon. Symptoms can include: Pain locally at the pulley (usually sharp), may feel/hear a 'pop' or 'crack', swelling and possible bruising, pain when squeezing or climbing, pain when extending your finger, pain with resisted flexion of the finger.

Shoulder injuries

Shoulder related injuries could typically include Rotator cuff

Rotator cuff

In anatomy, the rotator cuff is the group of muscles and their tendons that act to stabilize the shoulder. The four muscles of the rotator cuff, along with the teres major muscle, the coracobrachialis muscle and the deltoid, make up the seven scapulohumeral muscles of the human body.-Function:The...

tear, strain or tendonitis

Tendonitis

Tendinitis , meaning inflammation of a tendon , is a type of tendinopathy often confused with the more common tendinosis, which has similar symptoms but requires different treatment...

, biceps tendonitis or SLAP lesion.

Elbow injuries

Tennis elbow

Lateral epicondylitis or lateral epicondylalgia, also known as tennis elbow, shooter's elbow and archer's elbow, is a condition where the outer part of the elbow becomes sore and tender...

(Lateral Epicondylitis) is a common elbow injury among climbers and so is Golfer's elbow

Golfer's elbow

Golfer's elbow, or medial epicondylitis, is an inflammatory condition of the medial epicondyle of the elbow. It is in some ways similar to tennis elbow....

(Medial Epicondylitis, which basically is the same but on the inside of the elbow).

Young/adolescent climbers

“Any finger injury that is sustained by a young adolescent (12 - 16) should be seen by a physician and have x-rays performed. These skeletally immature athletes are very susceptible to developing debilitating joint arthritis later in adulthood.”