Climbing-Specific Body Tension: A Systematic Approach for Assessment & Progression Kevin Cowell, PT, DPT, OCS The crux move is steep, you’re toeing in on a small foot chip, and holding your breath as you go for the next hold. You stick the pinch move and use every ounce of effort to maintain body [...]
Are Adolescent Climbers Aware of the Most Common Youth Climbing Injury and Safe Training Practices: A Summary Kids are not just small adults. Their bodies differ in anatomy, psychology, and skeletal maturity. Due to these differences, it is essential to understand youth athletes’ perceptions on injury and safe training practices in order to [...]
Thumb-Sided Wrist Pain in Climbers: A Case for De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis Jennifer Sauers, PT, DPT Finally, a sunny day is in the forecast with pristine conditions. You make the trek out to work your bouldering project: the one involving a lot of funky pinch grips and thumb catches. After attempting this problem for several [...]
Balance and Stability for Climbers Most climbers would agree that improving their footwork is necessary to send more. The moment your feet leave the wall generally indicates you are either: dyno-ing, your feet have cut and your climb has now turned into a campus, or you are falling. In regards to your feet, [...]
Three Common Errors Made by New Climbers By: Joe Derian, PT, DPT, OCS Rock climbing is a sport that requires precise technique. Being able to stay on the wall and not “barn-door” or fall off may be due to shifting your hips just a little bit to the right or swinging one foot [...]
This article will take you through a step-by-step process of how to fabricate a pulley protection splint for a rock climber with a grade II or III pulley sprain. The purpose of the article is to educate the climber as well as the medical practitioner on the details of constructing the splint. Special [...]
Spine Mobility You are standing at the base of a route at your climbing gym. You notice wide stemming moves, high heel hooks and large step throughs. Looking up at the intricate sequences, you start to think maybe the route was set by a Cirque de Soleil performer. But you decide to give [...]
Photo Credit: Jesse Peters Professional Climber Josh Levin shows you the best way to tape your shoulder back into a better alignment. But remember, the taping is just temporary to align your shoulder blade and decrease pain. Click on this link to learn the best exercises to strengthen your shoulder blade [...]
Photo Credit: Eddie Fowke Nerve Mobility Imagine that you are belaying your climbing partner and they are stuck at the crux. They keep climbing up and down-climbing but they aren’t going anywhere. You look at your belay device and you see the rope glide back and forth, gaining either more tension [...]
Photo Credit: Jensen Walker Professional Climber Sasha Digiulian shows you the five best antagonist exercises to prevent climbing injury. It is important to strengthen the antagonist muscles in your body to increase strength, improve body symmetry and prevent injury.The Importance of PostureClimbing is a sport that develops many of the muscles that hunch [...]