UKH

Alright all,

Hoping for a little advice from anyone who knows about this particular thing.

I've aggravated the flexor tendon to my left hand ring finger by going a little too hard too quick about a week or so ago. It's deffo not a pulley injury - if I pull against the tip of the finger when it's almost completely extended the "not pain but something" is down somewhere in the palm of the hand area. I've looked up FT strain/pulled etc online but I only seem to finding mention of more complete injuries where the finger no longer works and the like. Admittedly that might be that my Google fu is weak this time.

Normally a physio would be the first place to go but that's not really any option right now due to work life imbalance.

So, anyone had this before? How long to heal, how to tape (can you tape?), any physio you found helped and all the usual questions.

Any help gratefully received.

I don't know about that specific injury, but generally all my tendon issues have been resolved by slow progressive strengthening, not resting. So find out what you've done, and find out how to very slowly strgthen it again. 

I don't know how you do that without a physio.  Lots of physios will do online consultation these days 

Online consultations hadn't even crossed my mind - it's a function of my age I suppose. Thank you for the idea, I'll look into that tonight. 

I've had repeated flexor unit strains which I think is what you describe. I'd recommend Dave Macleods book make or break which has a short section on them. You shouldn't need to stop completely but I'm very wary of open handed 2 finger pockets...

I second this, can send you some photos of the book if you’d like 

"open handed 2 finger pockets."

You may well have serious misapprehensions regarding my level of climbing 🤣. Good news nonetheless not likely having to stop so thank you .

That would be excellent if you would be so kind. I'll get a copy ordered for a fuller read (and to keep DM in protein powder). 

Well worth going on YouTube and searching for Hoopers Beta channel, he has some great videos inc. flexor tendon stuff.

I've struggled with ring finger pulleys as well as the flexor tendons, and agree with the above, a bit of rest followed by slow progression back up to normal. Lots of focus on warming up, massage it to get more blood flow in and out, and most importantly for me, stop climbing before you get to tired and end up pulling too hard because you've fluffed a move. 

I partially tore my flexor tendon - led to sharp pain in the palm of my hand, but was still able to climb as long as I was not doing a three finger drag (as my ring finger was painful when the pinky wasn't involved). Rest made it worse, physio advised gently loading using finger board and gradually build on that. So keeping feet on the ground and just pulling down in a half crimp 10 sec hold, 20 sec rest x 6. I then did the same with three finger drag, but very lightly and insuring there was no pain (felt more like just pressing on the fingerboard to begin with!) I did this daily and it made a huge difference straightaway. The injury happened three months ago, but I'm pretty much back to normal now. I tape ring finger and pinky together (quite loosely) when climbing, just to ensure I don't overdo it, especially pockets! Good luck with the rehab.

To add, I did try the Hoopers Beta advice on lumbrical strains and it didn't help - gentle loading worked for me.