In this Episode, Ben Schenck interviews“The Climbing Doctor” on the MTN Meister Podcast to discuss climbing injuries and his journey to becoming a doctor of physical therapy that specializes in treating climbing injuries.

This episode not only discusses rock climbing, but also alpine injuries in the lower body that can occur from long approaches and descents. Concepts discussed are:

• How Dr. Vagy got into rock climbing
• How to improve knee stability during approaches and descents
• Why some athletes are injury prone while others are not
• The relationship between imaging studies and the source of pain
• Specialized training methods to quantify finger strength
• Readiness to train assessments with dynamometers
• Ankle injuries while cycling
• How do you know if you are training too hard
• How do you know if you are not training hard enough
• Eccentric loading programs for Achilles tendinopathy
• Muscle activation exercises

Towards the end of the episode “The Climbing Doctor” discusses dirtbag tips. He talks about how you can use household items to create rehabilitation tools. This saves you from needing to go out and buy specialized rehabilitation equipment. Just look around your house or in your crag pack and you are set. A few tips he mentions are:

• Substitute climbing webbing with a resistance band
• Substitute a foam roll with a climbing rope with a towel around it
• Substitute a flexbar with a small hand towel
• Substitute a HandX Trainer with a Rubberbands

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to check out other MTN Meister Podcast Episodes at the link below. The Podcast focuses on the minds of those who explore, so there are lots of great interviews from explorers from all disciplines of outdoor athletics. There are interviews of the top professional athletes in cycling, climbing, alpinism, kayaking, mountain running, and skiing.

Click here to view the MTN Meister Webpage