Climbing can be intense. It’s a tough sport, and anyone who has been in it for long enough has either experienced an injury themselves, or seen someone else get injured.

It doesn’t stop us though, does it! Climbing is just too much fun to give up, despite the risks.

To maintain your longevity in health and climbing, we’ve collated the top 5 most common climbing injures. In this article, we’ll cover the most common conditions in the climbing community, and what to look out for so you can address a potential injury before it happens.

1.      Finger Pulley Injuries

Pulley injuries are probably the most common of all injuries in climbers. It typically happens in the 3^rd or 4^th finger, and at the base of the finger (also known as an A2 pulley injury). It is responsible for keeping the finger flexor tendons close to the bone, which gives the tendons a mechanical advantage ensuring they can pull efficiently.

            Causes

-        Lots of half crimps

-        Increasing training/climbing load too quickly (especially if you are new to climbing)

-        Pulling on a hold/move that your body has not adapted sufficiently for

Symptoms

-        A sudden ‘pop’ feeling at the time of injury

-        Swelling, pain and redness around the base of the finger

-        Pain and weakness on bending fingers or trying to grip objects

-        Bowstringing of the finger tendon (where the tendon pulls away from the finger bone)

2.      SLAP Tears

Superior Labrum from Anterior to Posterior (SLAP) tears are a disruption of the cartilage that lines the shoulder socket, called the labrum. The labrum is an important structure for maintaining the stability of the shoulder socket, and a tear can pre-dispose for shoulder subluxations or even dislocations.

            Causes

-        Sudden loading on your shoulder at end range (with your arm directly overhead)

-        Poor rotator cuff and shoulder muscle strength/conditioning

-        Often occurs on moves where your weight is very quickly transferred more to one arm (i.e. dynamic moves).

Think of the times you land a dyno but don’t have the shoulder strength to control the catch. At that moment, your muscles aren’t taking the load. It’s the passive structures of the shoulder (things that aren’t designed to stretch like muscle and tendon) that absorb all the load. This puts excessive strain on these non-stretchy structures, including the labrum, which can cause a tear.

            Symptoms

-        Pain at end ranges of shoulder movement (reaching overhead)

-        Painful popping, clicking, locking or clunking sensations when moving your shoulder

-        Decreased strength in the shoulder

-        Feeling like your shoulder is about to pop out on certain movements or positions

3.      Subacromial Pain Syndrome (SAPS)

SAPS is an umbrella term referring to pain at the front/anterior shoulder. It can result from various reasons, including inflammation, tears or degeneration of the structures in the front of the shoulder. The commonly affected structures are the supraspinatus tendon and subacromial bursa.

            Causes  

-        Lots of repetitive overhead movements

-        Poor conditioning or strength of the rotator cuff muscles

-        Thickening of the tendons or bursae due to overload

Symptoms

-        Pain around the front of the shoulder

-        Pain when raising your arm (usually around 70-120 degrees)

-        Pain on rotating your arm in or out

4.      Rotator Cuff Tears/Tendinopathy

The rotator cuff muscles are a group of 4 muscles around the shoulder which help to stabilise the shoulder blade and upper arm. These muscles are often injured when new climbers throw themselves at really shoulder-y moves without any conditioning, or time to allow adaptation of the muscles and tendons.

Causes

-        Repeated overhead movements or pulling

-        Can be more wear-and-tear related

-        Sudden increase/ decrease in training frequency and intensity

Symptoms

-        Pain in the front of the shoulder

-        Pain and/or weakness on lifting the arm

-        Pain at night and when laying on the arm

5.      Impact Injuries

Fall or impact injuries are injuries due to poor landing. This is most common in bouldering – if you’ve landed on the ground badly while lead/top-roping, something has gone desperately wrong. The most common impact injuries are:

-        Ankle sprains (inversion injuries)

-        Knees ligament injuries (ACL or MCL sprain/tears)

-        Wrist fractures

Causes

-        Poor landing technique

-        Unexpected falls

-        Accidentally hitting holds when falling

Symptoms

-        Immediate pain on landing

-        In the case of knee and ankle injury, pain on walking or being unable to walk

-        Pain and stiffness when moving the affected joint

Important Note: if you are completely unable to put weight through the affected body part due to pain, please seek immediate medical advice as it could indicate a fracture.

As far as top-rope and lead go, impact injuries are less common. Concussions, whiplash or bruised shoulders are the most common injury from falling into the wall or taking a whipper. However, these are relatively uncommon.

Of course, these types of injuries are much harder to prevent in the moment – nobody ever intends to fall poorly. That’s why learning to fall correctly and taking safe measures like downclimbing wherever possible is very important.

Prevention

Prevention is better than cure.

Trust us. A serious injury can take months, and potentially years to heal and rehabilitate. And that’s not to mention the psychological toll it can take – the fear on a sketchy move if you fall and fracture your ankle again... Even once the physical injury is healed, the painful experience can continue to affect your climbing. It’s just not worth it.

That’s why we advise having a graduated training program, especially if you’re the type to go gung-ho and push yourself beyond your limits.

Even if you take climbing more casually, having background knowledge on how to monitor your load is vitally important. This will help you regulate how much climbing and exercise you do, to reduce your risk of injury and help you build up strength to prevent future injury.

As scary and off-putting as injuries may be, having a solid strength and conditioning basis is a good first step to reducing your risk of injury. This, combined with understanding your current limitations and how to manage post-climbing recovery will help ensure you stay injury-free and climbing for longer!