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Hello fellow climbing community.
There are maybe some of you that will have had previous injuries which have been climbing related. Some serious, some minor. All of them lifechanging.
This discussion is about how your injury happened? What were the consequences? What was the recovery stage? What medical advice did you get/still recieving? How has it changed your life?
I think this is an opportunity for you to remembr that time of your climbing career and let the story be told-albeit to strangers online. But it's still a relief to tell other people about the processes that you have been through since the incident.
I myself am nearly two years past a near fatal incident that resulted in elbow replacement surgery, a fracture in my left metacarpal (inducing early arthritis) and a hairline fracture in the sacrem of the lower back.
I injured myself falling a clean 14m from the top of a climb. At the time i had blamed my friend for the mistake but on rigorous self reflection and objective analysis i decided that the problem was lack of communication on both our parts. It was simply a case of being complacent with climbing commands. I split from being his climbing partner after as i became very bitter about the whole event. Common in the denial phase of an injury.
I have sobered up from medical drugs, clouded vision on what happened and learned the hard way from it all after spending five days in hospital. As one would have guessed i was in cast for quite some time and had hatred feelings about my body being in tatters. The feeling that you will not be able to push your body to its limit for a sportsperson is crippling.
Nearly two months of knitting, reading and generally trying to occupy my time off was tough as the world of climbing went by. I was eager to explore the world again and train as i had done before.
The scottish hills were the answer as i looked to improve fitness again not by pulling hard on rock but stretching the limbs on the moorland. I couldn't stop and after a solid month up in the highlands i got a fitness level which satisfied me. From there i returned home and prepared to go back to work in an outdoor ed job.
There has been a lot going on since them days. Interestingly i'm climbing better overall, had more adventures and have an upgraded quality of life.
At present i find myself in New Zealand. The original plan was to come and climb, see friends and pick up some more work in an outdoor ed role. However, as time has rolled by and new experiences have hit me i've had a complete mind change in how i need to preserve the body and prevent further injury.
I should mention that all of this has come with an extra price. My left shoulder has compensated for the the lack of muscle use in the arm. Meaning that the shoulder has become very tight and strained. There are also other muscles that hae become out of proportion.
Because of this i went to see a kinesiologist which specialise in this sort of stuff. Google it if your unsure. They worked some magic by relaxing my left shoulder dramatically. There are still abnormalities in my biomechanics though. This i can just tell from knowing my body quite well.
Kinesiology and healing focus has become my way of thinking in life. A holistic aproach.
The best way to survive is by adapting. Through different resources including Dave Macleod's fantastic book, make or break, i realised that i couldn't keep my training habits the same and that my lifestyle would have to completely change in order for me to avoid further serious injuries that could be invoked from my already existing ones.
Anyway. That's my story up to now.
Feel free to share an opinion. A thought and a story.
George
There are maybe some of you that will have had previous injuries which have been climbing related. Some serious, some minor. All of them lifechanging.
This discussion is about how your injury happened? What were the consequences? What was the recovery stage? What medical advice did you get/still recieving? How has it changed your life?
I think this is an opportunity for you to remembr that time of your climbing career and let the story be told-albeit to strangers online. But it's still a relief to tell other people about the processes that you have been through since the incident.
I myself am nearly two years past a near fatal incident that resulted in elbow replacement surgery, a fracture in my left metacarpal (inducing early arthritis) and a hairline fracture in the sacrem of the lower back.
I injured myself falling a clean 14m from the top of a climb. At the time i had blamed my friend for the mistake but on rigorous self reflection and objective analysis i decided that the problem was lack of communication on both our parts. It was simply a case of being complacent with climbing commands. I split from being his climbing partner after as i became very bitter about the whole event. Common in the denial phase of an injury.
I have sobered up from medical drugs, clouded vision on what happened and learned the hard way from it all after spending five days in hospital. As one would have guessed i was in cast for quite some time and had hatred feelings about my body being in tatters. The feeling that you will not be able to push your body to its limit for a sportsperson is crippling.
Nearly two months of knitting, reading and generally trying to occupy my time off was tough as the world of climbing went by. I was eager to explore the world again and train as i had done before.
The scottish hills were the answer as i looked to improve fitness again not by pulling hard on rock but stretching the limbs on the moorland. I couldn't stop and after a solid month up in the highlands i got a fitness level which satisfied me. From there i returned home and prepared to go back to work in an outdoor ed job.
There has been a lot going on since them days. Interestingly i'm climbing better overall, had more adventures and have an upgraded quality of life.
At present i find myself in New Zealand. The original plan was to come and climb, see friends and pick up some more work in an outdoor ed role. However, as time has rolled by and new experiences have hit me i've had a complete mind change in how i need to preserve the body and prevent further injury.
I should mention that all of this has come with an extra price. My left shoulder has compensated for the the lack of muscle use in the arm. Meaning that the shoulder has become very tight and strained. There are also other muscles that hae become out of proportion.
Because of this i went to see a kinesiologist which specialise in this sort of stuff. Google it if your unsure. They worked some magic by relaxing my left shoulder dramatically. There are still abnormalities in my biomechanics though. This i can just tell from knowing my body quite well.
Kinesiology and healing focus has become my way of thinking in life. A holistic aproach.
The best way to survive is by adapting. Through different resources including Dave Macleod's fantastic book, make or break, i realised that i couldn't keep my training habits the same and that my lifestyle would have to completely change in order for me to avoid further serious injuries that could be invoked from my already existing ones.
Anyway. That's my story up to now.
Feel free to share an opinion. A thought and a story.
George
4
In reply to George Salt:
I managed to have a life-changing accident when I was eighteen, climbing in the Cairngorms. I bolloxed up a glissade and ended up with a fractured pelvis and damage to my knee and shoulder. I tried to pretend it was just a small thing for a while, but looking back now (I"m 62), it had profound effects on my life - the psychological effects derailed my university career, with wider consequences for later work, and from a climbing point of view, I never climbed to the level I might have. I found what we might call 'other interests' to distract me for a few years but then started climbing again. I managed to get to a reasonable mid-grade level but in recent years osteoarthritis has meant a hip and a knee replacement were necessary, and I've climbed very little over the last few years.
Your point about the holistic aspects of an injury is interesting. One thing I've learnt from my injuries is the extent to which the biomechanics of the body are a total system. I've had various impacts all over my lower body from the rebalancing I've been forced to do over the years, and even my fingers have been affected with injuries and osteoarthritis because of the way I compensated for weakness in my leg by transferring effort to my upper body. There have been other medical impacts from the periods of forced low activity over the years.
It sounds like you're doing the right things now to look after yourself in the future. Sustaining a minimum level of activity is a key thing - I regret the couple of periods where I've dropped out of climbing for a few years. It's a case of 'use it or lose it'.
One thing that I would say is that we know a lot more now about how to rehabilitate after injury, both in a climbing and general context, and that should be helpful. The information is much more widely available, and other sources of support are too. I cringe when I think about what passed for physiotherapy when I had my original accident. And kinesiology was unheard of... (I must check that out actually).
Anyway, good luck with it, and I hope the long-term impacts are minimised for you.
Cheers, Bob
I managed to have a life-changing accident when I was eighteen, climbing in the Cairngorms. I bolloxed up a glissade and ended up with a fractured pelvis and damage to my knee and shoulder. I tried to pretend it was just a small thing for a while, but looking back now (I"m 62), it had profound effects on my life - the psychological effects derailed my university career, with wider consequences for later work, and from a climbing point of view, I never climbed to the level I might have. I found what we might call 'other interests' to distract me for a few years but then started climbing again. I managed to get to a reasonable mid-grade level but in recent years osteoarthritis has meant a hip and a knee replacement were necessary, and I've climbed very little over the last few years.
Your point about the holistic aspects of an injury is interesting. One thing I've learnt from my injuries is the extent to which the biomechanics of the body are a total system. I've had various impacts all over my lower body from the rebalancing I've been forced to do over the years, and even my fingers have been affected with injuries and osteoarthritis because of the way I compensated for weakness in my leg by transferring effort to my upper body. There have been other medical impacts from the periods of forced low activity over the years.
It sounds like you're doing the right things now to look after yourself in the future. Sustaining a minimum level of activity is a key thing - I regret the couple of periods where I've dropped out of climbing for a few years. It's a case of 'use it or lose it'.
One thing that I would say is that we know a lot more now about how to rehabilitate after injury, both in a climbing and general context, and that should be helpful. The information is much more widely available, and other sources of support are too. I cringe when I think about what passed for physiotherapy when I had my original accident. And kinesiology was unheard of... (I must check that out actually).
Anyway, good luck with it, and I hope the long-term impacts are minimised for you.
Cheers, Bob
1
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