Pinkie Rehab
Just a few weeks after getting back in to climbing I developed pain/inflammation in the pads of both my pinkie fingers (left and right). My first of many comeback climbing injuries. The location of the inflammation is shown below, it was in the region of the A4 pulley.
I 'managed' the injury by taping up both fingers using the H-taping technique and continued climbing. It didn't clear up but it didn't get worse. This continued for a couple of months. Then after buying the book "Climb - Injury Free" by Dr. Jared Vagy I read about resisted finger expansions as a strengthening exercise for pulley sprains. The book prescribes 3 sets of 15 repetitions with a 5-second isometric hold once per day. So, I dug out some elastic bands from the stationary room at work and started doing a few reps at random times throughout the day.
Now, I didn't do this with any specific plan to rehabilitate my pinky problems. I just saw it in the book and had separately read or heard that it was a good idea to work your antagonists if you wanted to get stronger fingers. So it actually took me a while to even notice that I no longer had any pain or inflammation in either finger. The issue just cleared up in a relatively short time frame, almost by magic and has not returned since.
I 'managed' the injury by taping up both fingers using the H-taping technique and continued climbing. It didn't clear up but it didn't get worse. This continued for a couple of months. Then after buying the book "Climb - Injury Free" by Dr. Jared Vagy I read about resisted finger expansions as a strengthening exercise for pulley sprains. The book prescribes 3 sets of 15 repetitions with a 5-second isometric hold once per day. So, I dug out some elastic bands from the stationary room at work and started doing a few reps at random times throughout the day.
Now, I didn't do this with any specific plan to rehabilitate my pinky problems. I just saw it in the book and had separately read or heard that it was a good idea to work your antagonists if you wanted to get stronger fingers. So it actually took me a while to even notice that I no longer had any pain or inflammation in either finger. The issue just cleared up in a relatively short time frame, almost by magic and has not returned since.
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