SLAP’d with a Shoulder Injury? Karen Hsu Physical Therapy Karen Hsu, PT, DPT Image: unsplash.com Introduction In recent years, rock climbing as a sport has experienced a large increase in popularity. As more people have started climbing, so have injury rates grown. Today, the nature of these injuries are mostly due to overuse and [...]
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 [...]
Pulley Injuries Explained: Part 2 You May Not Need Surgery In Part 1 of this article, we discussed the anatomy of finger pulleys, the biomechanics behind our flexor tendon/pulley system, and the implications these factors have on our climbing. In Part 2, I’d like to shed some light on pulley injury specifics, [...]
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 [...]
Quick Beta - Agonist and Antagonist Muscles by Matt DeStefano Have you ever read a blog post, or heard people talking in the gym, about muscle agonists/antagonists and wondered what they mean? I’d like to help you out with that. In this short blog post, I just want to bring your attention [...]
Pocket Change: Adapting the Way You Pull on Pockets by Matt DeStefano I recently finished the classroom portion of my Doctor of Physical Therapy education, and I am now moving into my final clinical rotation down in San Diego. With a short break in between school and clinic, I took a trip [...]
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 [...]