Pulley Injuries Explained - Part 1 of 2 by Matt DeStefano If you’re a climber, chances are you have either had a finger injury, or at least you know someone who has had one. According to the research literature, namely Doctors Volker Schöffl1, Alex Folkl, and Erik Gerdes, finger injuries are the number [...]
Hang Right For Shoulder Health Esther Smith, a Doctor of Physical Therapy and owner of Grassroots Physical Therapy in Salt Lake City, wrote a great article on how to hang right when climbing and training. She provides a detailed case report of her treatment of Babsi Zangerl, a Black Diamond athlete, during [...]
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 [...]
Balanced Climbing Shoulders By Tanya Anne Mackenzie PhD (Specialist shoulder and elbow physiotherapist) Balanced muscles around the shoulder are essential for climbing efficiency as well as to avoid uneven tension around the joint. Imbalance in muscles around joints leads to increased strain and stress in the soft tissues and can ultimately lead to [...]
How to Prevent Ankle Sprains in Bouldering You are cruxing out on your bouldering project. Your hands are sweating, your heart racing and you need just one more move to send it. You give it one hard push and reach up to the final hold. Your foot slips and you go airborne. The [...]