How to keep progressing through injury

Join the Sunset Frothers Crew :) / tomohalloran
Getting injured is one of the most frustrating things in climbing. Especially if it keeps on happening. If you do a proper self assessment of your injury and get on the recovery wagon quickly, they can suck a little less. Plus it's a great learning opportunity, to find out how and why it happened and whether you could a avoid it in the future. Let's be smarter climbers :).
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[@lukesutherland6285]

One thing I learned from impact/fall was that sideways dyno movements on low volumes are higher risk of an ankle sprain injury. Seems like dynoing upwards is safer then dynoing down or sideways. Keep safe

[@BiggFanDDD]

Even slab climbing statically on volumes can do that to you. I almost sprained my ankle because my foot slipped off a smear and I fell onto another volume with my leg totally straight. 🙃

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Yes, totally. Grippy rubber, textured volumes and sideways movement is a recipe for potential disaster. I’m always a little worried on those moves

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Ouch that’s not a fun fall. I’m always scared of those slips and collecting whatever is in your path on the way down

[@lukesutherland6285]

Yeahh that's also true, you would hope the routesetters would think of potential obstructions below a sketchy volume too@@BiggFanDDD

[@aaronhauptmann869]

I dislocated my elbow doing a sideways Dyno, couldn't agree more.

[@json_bourne3812]

Started bouldering in August last year, at 30 years old. Around Oct/Nov I had a thumb injury (non-climbing related, non-muscle related; just needed time to recover back to 100%) that look me out for ~2-3 weeks. Since it was only a couple months in, and I've just started finally going twice a week, when I finally got better I went straight back into it and ended up doing a big dyno 3-4 times my first session back. The next day, bad elbow pain, the 3rd day with no improvement, saw my physio; tennis elbow/tendon injury. I spent weeks justifying to myself I could "take it easy" while climbing AND doing my rehab exercises, because I REALLY wanted to climb (with it being my new passion), but all I did was delay the healing process. It took until around mid-December where I thought "that's it, I need to take a proper break and heal/rehab". This time, I listened to my body and didn't climb for about 4 weeks while doing increased rehab load. When I finally went back mid-Jan I legit took it VERY easy; easy climbs, long rests, ensuring the load wasn't too big on the arm and sure enough a few weeks later I was ending sessions with 0 pain in my arm. I'm back to doing 2, even 3, sessions a week with my arm feeling better than ever, and importantly STILL DOING REHAB/improving my strength in that arm/elbow. I'm kind of glad it happened so soon in my climbing journey, because it's taught me the value of looking out for all the things you listed in the video from not overloading, not over-training/climbing, bailing when necessary if the strain feels too much or from potential injury. Because the LAST thing I want is to be out of climbing for even more months; I'd rather bail out of a potential best-grade send that feels sketchy than go for it and not be able to climb for a long time, because the progress will come! Great video!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Print what you have just written out and stick it everywhere. That’s a massive lesson to learn and I’m really psyched to hear your progress and the lessons. It’s so hard to stop, especially early on, but if you keep reinforcing that positive behavior, it’ll become a little easier each time to make the right decision. Hope the next decades of your climbing are awesome 😀✌️

[@Lank-Climbing]

Thank-you for this video, I blew through my a2 pulley on my first outdoors session since autumn and that made this a nice watch. For me the worst part is the mental aspect because I was making great fingerboard progress over winter and now I am only going to regress for a couple of months. I guess its time to take up running.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Ahh that’s tough. Sorry to hear. The gains won’t take as long to get back as you may think. Once you’ve had it, it’s easier to get again. Trust the process ✌️

[@Lank-Climbing]

Thanks for the encouragement @@TomOHalloranAus

[@simonwilliams9850]

Nice clear framework and relatable, thanks

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Great to hear. Thanks Simon. Glad it’s helpful ✌️

[@TheGreatAscent]

Perfect video for me right now. Recently suffered an A2 Pulley injury and was super confused about „why“ because in the past I always just had „overload injuries“ and that was not the case this time. It seems to me like my lack of quality rest (especially bad and not enough sleep; also a lot of stress outside of my climbing) was the reason and this really helped me pin-point that a bit :)

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Sucks to hear that, hope it comes back well. It’s so easy to discount life outside of climbing. I’m totally guilty of it at times. Sometimes climbing to blow off the steam is what you feel like you need. Or if you have a good hard session it makes the crumby day/week, ok. Hope the recovery is a smooth one for you ✌️

[@TheGreatAscent]

@@TomOHalloranAus Thanks

[@TomOHalloranAus]

@@TheGreatAscent we keep on learning :)

[@Mr.Grampians]

Awesome vid Tom 🤙

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Thanks. Psyched to hear you enjoyed it ✌️

[@climbing_thomas]

that was a super cool video!! it inspired me to start doing a training journal, which i have been always been wanting to, but never did :D now, with that video i see the benefits much more clearer and better than ever before! so thank you!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Awesome to hear mate. Glad it’s resonated with you. There’s a lot to find in the training journal if you know what to write down and what to track 😀. Hope it works out for you

[@climbing_thomas]

@@TomOHalloranAus thanks mate, i appreciate the kind words! and good luck for your races 💪

[@z_mariani]

Thanks for putting this out there Tom!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

No worries. Hope it was helpful ✌️

[@z_mariani]

@@TomOHalloranAus sure was, very insightful and filled with good info. Very helpful considering I deal with injuries myself .. :)

[@TomOHalloranAus]

@@z_mariani just got to try and learn one little thing out of it each time. we can get slowly smarter :)

[@nicholaschristensen6193]

Saw this vid suggested this morning, didn't watch, didn't warm up properly, and injured my pulley. Hoping it's not too bad but motivated by this video to get psyched on my other training. Thank you for this, it's really helped me keep things in perspective.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Ahhh no. That’s a real bugger. Sorry to hear. Glad it could be helpful for you at least. Good luck on the recovery and hope you can keep sane in the time off

[@kxyz1588]

Thanks so much for this insightful video! Really helpful and motivating at a time when I've been sulking because my chronic wrist pain has aggravated a lot right after I sent my first V7 and felt stronger than ever, especially when I have set "not getting injured" as one of my climbing goals this year because of a few injuries last year and always warm up extensively for each session. Will definitely incorporate the recovery tracking into my training journal and keep a positive mindset!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Ahh sorry to hear about the injury. That feeling of being on a roll and then things falling apart, really hurts. I hope the recovery process is good to you and you're back better than ever. I spoke a bit about this in one of my Patreon videos recently, but having a longer term mindset for your climbing life is a huge unlock. Gives you a chance to breathe and not feel like because your in the best shape of your life you need to keep doubling down. If you plan to climb for another 10-20-30 years, you have a lot of good and even better days ahead :)

[@kxyz1588]

@@TomOHalloranAus Thank you! A longer term mindset is super helpful, both prospectively and retrospectively. At first I tried to keep up my climbing schedule despite the wrist pain (with more wrist warm up, be more selective about which routes to climb, stop when it's painful, etc), but when I recently reviewed my climbing journal and realized that I've been feeling a lot of fatigue for the past month or so (almost always only 2 or 3 out of 5 regarding physical readiness), so I decided to take a step back, decrease my climbing frequency, and focus more on rehab. Still not sure how long it might take to fully recover, but I'm feeling optimistic! I've only been climbing for aboout 2 years - the journey has just started!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Good to have the realisation. The training diaries are very helpful for that. You love climbing? You’ll be doing it for the foreseeable future? Don’t stress on ‘losing’ a couple months now. In the grand scheme of things. It’s a drop in the ocean 😀

[@Productionbrikfilm]

Realy great video! Very good tips! Thks

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Awesome, psyched to hear that mate. Thank you

[@requiemz22]

I've had an overuse injury for a few weeks and now taking some time off. I thought I was pretty good at taking enough rest but it seems like I wasn't. I climbed a couple of times when I had rest days planned and now I'm dealing with a pretty minor ring finger injury. I definitely could listen to my body a little better but I got caught up in the pursuit of strength and being too rigid with my scheduled training. Getting an injury isn't the worst thing as long as we learn from it. You don't know what you don't know and that's alright. Thanks for the video, good timing!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

I can totally relate to not wanting to miss sessions and stay on track. It’s hard to stop. I think often times we know in our gut, we should stop. But we don’t. We need to listen to ourselves more. Good luck with the recover ✌️

[@eSKAone-]

Running is mad good complementation to climbing for the body. I love it so much 💟🌌☮️

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Haha I’m loving it so much. It’s awesome haha. I spent years laughing at those that run, now I’m fully on board

[@j.tarantino]

Perfect timing

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Good luck with the recovery mate. Hopefully you’re back on this projects soon 😀✌️

[@j.tarantino]

@@TomOHalloranAus Cheers mate! Fingers crossed

[@BiggFanDDD]

Great video!! There's maybe one more aspect you could add: prophylactic training. For example, my ankles and shoulders are super prone to injury (existing injuries from prior sports in my quickly evaporating youth) so I have to constantly keep them strong and relatively mobile to avoid sprains, strains and all that jazz. I guess for fingers there's even the Emil hangboard idea to keep the tendons active. I'd bet there's a ton of ways to avoid injuries prophylacticly.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Yes, that’s totally true. The prehab idea is super beneficial to making yourself more robust. Especially if you know, like in your case, that you’re susceptible to an injury

[@darrenmarney8577]

There is a lot of great information in this video Tom 👌 And my favourite perspective is having other activities ! I have surfing , climbing , Motorcycle , Gold prospecting & weights 👍 So any injuries can be substituted with another activity while recovering 😃 Most importantly is to never sulk about the injuries 👌

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Yes! Having a life outside of climbing is a huge win in every way. Wish I was closer than 1:45hr from the beach. I miss surfing. Keeping positive and moving forward is the biggest part for sure :)

[@darrenmarney8577]

​@TomOHalloranAus I rode my motorcycle from Portland to Narrabeen 35 years ago Tom for 3 weeks of surfing 😂 14 hundred kms for a wave 🤣 Surfing is great cardiovascular exercise 👍

[@TomOHalloranAus]

@@darrenmarney8577 haha frothin'!! that's awesome

[@aspuzling]

Thanks for this. I climbed yesterday for the first time in a few weeks and my injury feels pretty ok. I was planning on climbing again tomorrow but if I think that is gonna help or hurt my recovery, I can only see it doing more harm. I will probably wait a couple more days till I'm actually recovered before continuing to ease back into climbing.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

You’re at the hardest point of the injury recovery, I think. When climbing feels real and in your grasp again but your body isnt quite up to it. Take it easy. You’ll be back to 100% before you know it ✌️

[@raymondfoo9045]

1:13 I felt that personally lol. I pulled my ring finger (FDP tendon strain) when my foot pop unexpectedly.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Those ones suck. When it just happens and you feel like you were doing everything right. Hope it’s a speedy recovery ✌️

[@raymondfoo9045]

@@TomOHalloranAus but why ring finger though?

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Just something about them. They’re one of the more popular ones to injury. If not the most

[@sambeard4428]

You'd make a great coach Tom!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

haha thanks mate. trying to share as much as i can here, for as many as i can :)

[@sambeard4428]

@@TomOHalloranAus much appreciated 👍

[@elremito]

Thanks, that’s great advice! I ruptured my ring finger pulley and had to stop climbing, tough times. My strategy to stay fit is 30mn of gym at home every day… Any advice on gym/fingerboard exercises I can do that relate to climbing without using my injured finger?

[@TomOHalloranAus]

You can try isolating the finger and finger boarding around it. Single digit, 2 finger hangs etc. take it very easy though. Don’t want to pop something else. There’s also research that shows training one limb, while the other is injured, reduces muscle loss in the injured limb. So single arm hangs will help the other, if you’re able to. Feet on ground bouldering or even non climbing related movement that requires the coordination between upper and lower limbs. Playing around on kids jungle gyms, rolling around on the ground and pushing up etc. Check out _udini_ Udo Neumann on insta for some more ideas. He’s got great stuff

[@HotPotatos]

nice vid!

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it 😀✌️

[@Candesce]

I'm currently suffering from the third issue, overuse injuries... My left shoulder has been in various degrees of discomfort for the past half year, and my right wrist ligaments are starting to feel tender when I pull on my right hand. Pretty frustrating when my body feels like it's letting me down in the midst of some of my biggest climbing gains of my life.

[@TomOHalloranAus]

That’s certainly a bitter one to swallow. Sorry to hear it. A reframe, however, could be that your body is telling you it needs some more attention in some areas. Give them some attention and imagine what you can achieve with a fully functioning body. If you’re currently climbing your best with one that’s not so happy, a healthy one will be even better. If you plan on climbing for a long time, a few months of rehab will be a drop in the ocean of time. You’ll be climbing stronger and better than you ever thought, soon enough ✌️

[@levi.trumpet]

🔥🔥🔥

[@TomOHalloranAus]

✌️🙏

[@sarazzielh6518]

I injured two oof my fingers on the right hand in december and now I'm doing endurance training with big holds until I can use them normal again It feels like end of march right now

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Nice one for being able to adapt and continue. Not always possible but great when you can. Keeps you sane and the coordination flowing. Hope you’re back to feel health soon ✌️

[@johnfinnegan9947]

Super usey Tozzer! Any advice for supporting an injured partner?

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Just gotta be supportive. Keep them motivated. May be a balance between not too much and not too little. Don’t let them make a bad decision coming back too early and keep them accountable to the process. In a supportive way 😀. Each person needs something different.

[@Mathnapkin]

I'm about a year into climbing and sprained my ankle this week dropping from the top of a boulder (like I've safely done 100 times). After 4 days of crutches, I'm wondering if when I return to climbing, should just stick to top rope. What are tips to mentally recover from a fall injury?

[@TomOHalloranAus]

Mental recovery can be the hardest. To build the trust again that things won’t go bang next time. If it’s something you want to continue to do there’s probably 2 things to work on. Jump in the metaphorical shallow end when you get back. Small jumps or step offs and build it up over time. Also, seeing if there’s any strength deficit that could help in ankle stability etc. I’d also so that sometimes these things happen. We are dropping from a big height with all that force. Something may go wrong.I’ve busted my ankles perhaps 5 times from falls/drop offs bouldering. It sucks, they hurt but I’ve slowly learnt what can make my landings better and tried to implement. Hope you’re back at it and feeling confident soon ✌️

[@LemonLimeFlavoured]

Currently dealing with two tweaky fingers as well, I believe due to chronic overuse and not resting. My strategy has been to keep climbing but less intensely and with more rest in between, and ..... it has not been working haha. What is your view on pain while rehabbing an injury? Specifically fingers. Do you think it should be completely avoided during exercises, or just kept to a reasonable range (e.g. 1 or 2 out of 10). I've heard varying opinions on this topic. (I know, I should just go to a medical professional)

[@violoneu]

Theres a lot of different finger injuries you can get so im not sure exactly what yours is, but I've injured my a2 a3 multiple times on different fingers and here is what I learned about recovering from thoses:1. stop full-crimping for multiple weeks or even months if it doesn't feel right, if you do full-crimp, make sure you are extremely well warmed up. 2. Putting tension into your fingers everyday or so is actually really beneficial for the recovery if you do it right, go find the emil video on that! 3. I've learned there's a big part of the pain that is purely psychological, once you start feeling like your injury is healed, start putting more tension and weight on your fingers to rewire your brain that you can do it and it doesn't hurt anymore. 4. Keep climbing and focus on other parts of your training while recognizing that you might not be able to do certain boulders even if the grade is way below your max. I hope you recover well!! :)

[@TomOHalloranAus]

@violoneu has put that very well. There’s a ton of things sore fingers can be and so a ton of different symptoms to pay more or less attention to. A proper rehab program is the ideal, as the path will be mapped out for acceptable pain levels, load increases etc. There can also just be a level of pain which hangs around for a while after the fingers are healed. One of the most underrated parts of seeing a Physio or similar is your paying someone to take the guess work out. You can stop wondering, poking and testing and just buckle up for the journey back to full health