A Pain in the Back Karen Hsu Physical Therapy Karen Hsu, PT, DPT unsplash.com Introduction Are you having back pain after climbing for hours on end? Or, maybe you get back pain intermittently when you are in certain positions, after you’ve done multiple sit starts, while bouldering, or high stepping. You are [...]
Long Term Athlete Development I am honored to be involved in the development of Canada's Long Term Athlete Development document for Sport Climbing. Although my role was mostly consultative, I am extremely proud of the work. The document is the foundation for athlete development in both recreational and competitive indoor climbing. Climb for Life [...]
Preparing to Try Hard Part 1: Isometric Testing and PAP for Coaches. Camp4 Human Performance Tyler Nelson DC, MS, CSCS @C4HP Introduction: Performance at the crag or in a competition is a direct representation of athlete preparation. Preparation includes both the cognitive and physical capacities of an athlete. Unfortunately it is hard to [...]
Clarifying the Role of Pain in Injuries Written by William Bateman Edited by: Nina Tappin For a long time I dropped things, mostly smaller items like car keys. I also suffered from phantom pains. The tip of my finger itched even though it wasn’t there. - Tommy Caldwell, The Push Image from www.quora.com [...]
More For Less: What Every Climber Wants Using Blood Flow Restriction Training To Improve Forearm Capacity Tyler Nelson DC, MS, CSCS Camp4 Human Performance Background Blood flow restriction training (BFRT) is a technique originally created in Japan under the title Kaatsu by Yoshiaki Sato in the 1970’s. Since that time the [...]
How Shoulder Mobility Affects Your Climbing Do you have pain between your shoulder blades after climbing? Do you have trouble reaching your arms fully overhead? Do you find yourself slouching with your shoulders rotated inward? You might have poor shoulder mobility. The areas that generally limit shoulder mobility in climbers are: The [...]
Thoracic Spine Mobility for Climbers By Matt DeStefano Rationale: In order to climb at your highest level and pain-free, you must have adequate mobility throughout your body. This article speaks specifically to mobility in the thoracic spine. The thoracic spine is the group of spinal segments below your neck and above your low [...]
Use a Luggage Scale to Quantify Strength I work with a lot of climbers internationally and many of them want to know how to quantify their muscle strength to determine muscle imbalances. I used to tell them that they had to fly to Los Angeles to see me in the clinic so that I [...]
Recently, "The Climbing Doctor" had the chance to connect with Chris Danielson, who is one the most renowned American route setters. This was a unique opportunity to see the behind the scenes thought processes that goes into competition route setting and how the same methodology can be applied to route setting for non-competition climbers in the gym . The thought process [...]
Rotator Cuff Strain Signs and Symptoms Dull ache radiating into the back or side of the shoulder. Discomfort lifting objects, especially out to the side. Cause The shoulder is made up of four rotator cuff muscles. These muscles connect the shoulder blade to the arm bone. The rotator cuff muscles act together as [...]