Diagnosis

I have been on a break from climbing for 5 weeks now...this is killing me. I haven't taken off this much time since I was 17. For the past 3 weeks I haven't done any other strengthening exercises other than aerobics and core. I keep catching myself thinking: How did this happen?

So today I went to a hand specialist. I went to Dr. Dietz last spring for my past finger injury. He sees a lot of climbers and was able to easily diagnose my finger and then send me on my way with a taping method that let me train for the Vail World Cup. At the office I had him look at my two ring fingers, my right middle finger, and my left wrist. He told me that I have tendovaginitis in both ring fingers and in my wrist. My wrist was originally diagnosed as a muscle hernia (Dr. Dietz laughed at this...apparently he doesn't like Dr. Barret, whom I saw for my wrist last month). However, by resting and not doing any pulling on it has allowed my wrist to heal enough to do pull-ups again! My middle finger was diagnosed with pulley strain (which is something I have always struggled with in that finger).

To further explain tendovaginitis, it is the inflammation of the tendon sheaths. This occurs from overuse. What is odd about my case is that my fingers do not hurt until I actually try and crimp...and I don't close hand crimp. Many who are diagnosed with this usually have trouble making a fist and can be mislead into thinking they ruptured a pulley...so maybe there is hope?

I don't know how long it will take to heal. Dr. Dietz said that it could take up to 6-8 more weeks. Until then, I can experiment with taping, climb lightly to test it, do pull-ups...and just wait it out. I am also going to do occupational therapy.


So again I come to the question: How did this happen? Well obviously overuse. But really I had three major flaws in my training:

1: I overlooked the fact that it was fall and that I would be climbing outside on the weekends. So during my training weeks I didn't take the weekends into consideration.

2: I didn't do any antagonist muscle training. This is probably the most important thing that I have overlooked. The fact that I knew I had to do antagonist muscle training but didn't because I was unsure what to do...just plain stupid. Even though I was in school, I should have made the time to at least look it up. Not only is this important for me, but it is important for the climbing team kids as well.

3: I didn't rest enough. I heard a great saying the other day, "You don't get stronger on your training days, you get stronger on your rest days." I just don't understand how I messed that up. Looking back I think that I just got over-excited. I tend to gain too much confidence in my body's healing abilities and then over-train. That has been my downfall since I was born. I always get over-confident and will take things to the extreme until something gives. I just need to take a step back and slow down.

As I continue to heal I find myself asking another question: How can I learn from this? And I really mean that. Obviously I haven't learned anything from my past mistakes and I feel that this is the time to really buckle down and force myself to learn. At least I have taken the first step and decided to study exercise science. Now that I am on a break from school, I am reading climbing and training books like crazy! Currently I am reading Training for Climbing and One Move Too Many. I think I can also learn from other coaches and fellow climbers. Being around many talented co-workers has helped me put my efforts into coaching and organizing the team. Overall, I hope to gain much more out of this rest period than the strength and time I have lost.

It pains me to think that I will not be able to compete at ABS Nationals this year. This will be the first time in 4 years I have not competed at a National event. There is a teeny possibility that I may heal in time to compete, but is it really worth it? Is it worth risking my health, money, and time? Honestly that is a question that I am still trying to answer. Maybe I will be stupid and go, maybe I won't. However I am looking forward to having a free summer. Hopefully I can take a trip out to Colorado, other "colder" places, or maybe internationally if the weather is good enough. All thoughts that can't be answered yet, but will in time.