Source
r/climbing•
Insignificant

I stopped climbing shortly after I started with a bad wrist. Eight years later, worth a return visit to the doctors?

I discovered climbing around nine years ago.

I found it incredibly addictive, to the point where I climbed myself into a wrist injury after about 10 months.

Most of the symptoms I had were inline with carpal tunnel; though a few particular snags were never clearly explained.

So I plugged away with my GP, obtained a referral, and had a CTR... that didn't appear to do anything. The symptoms disappeared over time (just as they had done during periods of rest from before the operation), but any attempt to climb again brought back the symptoms. One final chat with my GP, a "probably permanent nerve damage", and that was that. The whole experience was put in a box and stuck on a shelf.

Then a couple of weeks ago I took my son to a soft play center that had a few climbing holds. I hung from a couple for a minute and, sure enough, after about eight years of not climbing the symptoms return within the space of a day.

I'm okay with that (c'est la vie), but the event coincided with a recent suggestion from my partner to head back to the GP and get them to check over my wrist again. A fair bit of time has passed, mebe it's worth another look.

So my (broad, sorry) question here is, what would you lot do in my shoes? I absolutely loved climbing, for the short time that I engaged in it, but the episode is now an old memory and I've a almost a decade of distance between me and it. That said, I never did get an entirely satisfactory explanation of exactly what was my problem, I just tapped my GP until I got their best guess at a treatment (in fact, if anything it was a lesson in expecting realistic outcomes from healthcare professionals).

Worth another visit to the quack's? Or do I just pipe down and press on?

Ta for reading,

Bit of an edit, for closure as much as anything...

Thanks for the notes. All very helpful. Now feeling a bit nostalgic, revisiting climbing has reminded me how much I enjoyed it... It also reminded me of the post-injury frustration, the periods of recovery, and the dashed hopes.

I agree with the importance of being able to clearly articulate symptoms, and also of having some tenacity when talking with healthcare professionals. That said, in the end the CTR was the result of my having pushed as far as I could in the direction being offered by my doctor. A few repeat visits with "Still not healed, what else do you have?" resulted in what for them must have been a final stab at guessing what was wrong. While I was never particularly convinced by the diagnosis, I eventually came to terms my injury (slight though it was in the grand scheme of things), and the fact it can only have been a pain in the arse to get to the bottom of.

Anyway. Step one (go to the doc's) is without any cons, so I might just trot along and see what they say. Whether not I'm up for any more "On the off chance..." rehabilitative measures I'm not sure, having been there once before, but we shall see.

All in all it's been nice dredging up a few fond memories, and thanks for the responses.

Posted Jan 26, 2016, 3:48 PM UTC · edited

66
travelinzac•

Go see your doctor what do you have to loose? But keep something in mind, and this is Dave MacLeod said in a training beta podcast (a bit long but worth the listen). Very often when you go see a doctor, the treatment the prescribe is very much dependent on the attitude you approach them with. If you walk in like hey doc, my wrist kinda hurts what can you do, they will prescribe the most minimal least invasive/risky treatment there is, see how it goes, play the course, and only move forward if necessary after return visits. If you instead see the doctor and are blunt about what your goals are and assert your determination to beat the injury, ask what course of treatment will likely yield the best results so that you can recover; you're likely to get better treatment. It is also important to do some research on the anatomy/injury; this is to enable to have a well informed conversation with a doctor. He puts it much more elegantly but you get the point.

8
n88n•

I think only you can answer this question. Do you want to continue like you have for the last 9 years? Or do you want to try to get back into climbing.

We are all pretty nuts about climbing since this is a climbing group. I think we would do what we needed to figure it out.

The question is what do you want?

The only thing i would add is that maybe your GP can't help. Seek a doctor that can give you a proper diagnosis if you decide to go back after it.

3
ythri•

Visiting a doctor doesn't really have downsides, does it? It will probably not change all that much, but there is a chance that he DOES find what exactly the problem is and how it could be treated, so that alone should be reason enough.

That being said, how did you care fore your wrists? Did you always warm up? Did you do wrist mobility work? Did you do antagonist exercises? If not, it might be worth to try that out. Basically, try something like learning to do handstands, this will strengthen your wrists (but the load is exactly opposite to what you have in climbing), and do these wrist preparation exercises for warm up and mobility work. Take it slow though, and immediately stop if something hurts. Maybe after a while the wrists are strong enough to start climbing again (but maybe they won't, I'm not a doctor).

2
InsignificantOP•

Good points, thanks!

I think the advice has been a straightforward reminder of some info' that I'd stowed away. If I want to give my wrist another bash (no pun intended), then all I can do is to take care, to start slow, and to see what happens.

Not sure. I did quite a lot of work with a physio after becoming injured, which in retrospect I consider my part of my inability to come to terms with losing an activity of which I'd quickly grown extremely fond. Having ended up where I did, it was easy to look back and consider that my destination was obvious from the outset (...why waste the time/ money on something that I should have known was never going to happen again), and the thought of firing up the hope of climbing again doesn't make me feel hugely optimistic... which is probably my answer.

Nevermind. I can play the guitar now, which had I continued climbing I probably wouldn't have been able to do. :)

Thanks again.

2
RakdosUnleashed•

You should ask for an Xray. I thought I had CT for YEARS and it turned out to be cartilage wear/arthritis instead. Definitely keep asking questions until someone can tell you how to fix it.

Good luck! :-)

1
ohpumpkincoffee•

I'm going to make another suggestion: physical therapy. I had an intensive shoulder surgery a few years back, and I was able to swim and climb within 1-2 years post-op thanks to an incredible physical therapist. Now, I do have to be careful to maintain my strengthening and stretching exercises, or I do have some problems today, but I never imagined I would be able to swim freestyle or do a pull-up again in my life. If it is an option, you can get a PT referral from your GP and give it a try. It seems like you should be able to do some preventative exercises to strengthen your wrist/hand and be able to climb at least gently!

1