Finger injury in climbers (Synovitis, joint problems) 

I’ve had this for 4 years. I thought quarantining and not climbing would help. It did for a little bit but it never subsided to what it was before climbing. Imagine having this for years, not climb for a year, and finally being able to crack that knuckle again. So satisfying! It came back of course after I started climbing again.

Yes exactly the same pain I m facing from so long it's been 3 months finally I found your video.

Great information, actually the only video about synovitis that is NOT caused by rheuma or osteoarthritis.

I just discover this channel and i just wanted to thank you for such a great video.

I have had this for the past 3 months now. I still can feel it but it varies in pain from day to day. Some days it feels like it’s getting better while others are the reverse. Nights are usually when it hurts the most and the afternoon is when it’s barely noticeable if it all. When I climb on it that’s when it feels the best weirdly enough. Overall it’s a weird injury that seems like it never goes away.

Very informative, although i have had this injury on and off many times in my middle finger over the past 10 or so years. It Usually flares up when i start training to much. And i have tried it all. Although this is anecdotal, i can say categorically that Complete rest has never been the answer. Week or two off, depending how bad it is then progressive hang boarding, as well as flexor forearm stretching, arm aiding in about the flexor origin area(not to hard) and "flossing" seem to the way back for me... * Disclaimer, this is my personal experience only

Very useful and helpful video.Such a great relief and knowledgeable video.Many thanks 😊

Thanks for the super informative video. I’ve had 4 swollen knuckles from climbing for over a year, some worse than others. I saw a PT, primary care doc, and stopped climbing for months and nothing got better. Specialist PT had me do some exercises but they didn’t seem to help, and primary care doctor told me to just take ibuprofen. Do you have any other suggestions?

I had this 6 months ago after climbing too hard too fast (4 times/week triggered this). Joints swollen on 6 fingers - couldn’t make a fist at all. Went to see Ortho and he put me on finger splinters. I wore them for 3 weeks. I injected steroids on the worst finger. It got sore for a week then recovered. I have rested from climbing for 3 months. During this time, I went to see a PT for ultrasound treatments. It got better slowly. Came back to climbing again for 3 months now. The swollen joints flared up every session but not as bad as the first time. What i did differently: 1) Tape the fingers 2) Limit my training to 1-2 times/week Seem like it never goes away. But, I learn to be patient now. Want to have healthy fingers so I can continue climbing.

Such clear teaching. Thank you.

You're a great artist!

Yo thanks for the video, regret not resting earlier and now it takes longer to recover, very informative

This was super informative thank you so much for making this so clear and easy to understand!

Thank you SO MUCH!

What you need to do is going to a specialist or/and physio to get diagnosed properly, they will suggest what is the best plan for recovery. You will most certainly need to do mild finger exercise and mobility.

Great explanation!

Thank you for sharing this video. Sad to hear the only solution is to rest - the last thing any climber wants to do 😅

very insightful video! thanks for this:)

I returned to climbing at 44 after a long period of absence, to the local bouldering gym. There was an overhang with a series of super crimpy holds on it, and after completing it and releasing the pressure on my fingers, they hurt in the joints. They hurt throughout the week and then again hurt the week after. We're talking mild to moderate pain after doing a crimp, and mild, barely noticeable pain throughout the week. I haven't noticed any swelling. I had assumed this was my fingers strengthening after absence, but could they be injured?

Very helpful video. Thanks 😊

Thank you so much!

climbing for more than a half year now. started with 1 time a week, not 3 times. and the thing limiting me the most are my sweaty hands and pain in my finger joints x) i always had problems with my fingers. when helping someone move and lifting heavier things they started to hurt. will see a doc for that

Great video!

excactly the video i needed. thanks!:)

Great video! Thanks for explaining how to tape it ^

Brillant video!!!

If I extend my right middle finger it is essentially a near perfect straight line along the top of the finger. If I do the same with my left middle finger, it does not straighten out to a near perfect straight line. Its straight up until the middle knuckle/joint at which point it dips down like a ramp. I cannot get it to line up like my right hand does. Is this due to Synovitis? The joint is very large and bulky. Its been popping on open/closing for about 4 months now. But during this 4 month period I've been climbing at my highest ever level and not seeing much loss of strength or pain in the finger.

I've had synovitis for years and years. I've taken up to a year off. It never truly goes away with rest. The pain goes down all the way but it comes back after a little bit of hard climbing. SO.... I don't think this video is very helpful.

very helpfull thanks for the effort

yup. Only been climbing a few months but middle finger. (I also work construction, and weigh 220) ill lay off that finger for a few weeks best i can i guess. Just annoying for little stuff really like grabbing coffee cup. Don't really notice it when doing labor intensive stuff ironically. I've a very high pain tolerance though, in the infantry we used to walk the skin off our feet all the time etc. till our boots were bloody. It actually hurts much more if I try to open my finger against force. That doesn't really come up very often.

Is climbing likely to increase / speed up degeneration of the joints in the hand and fingers

I had an accident doing mtb, I went to an orthopedic dr who recomended surgery performed by another specialist, im kinda scared, anyone had surgery couse of a problem like this, did it fix the pain and stiffness problem?

I dislocated my index finger from the middle joint, Wednesday marks 3 weeks my finger is super swollen with no pain just swollen and can barley bend it do i just let it rest/heal and ill be okay and able to bend it again?😭

thank you!

Thanks so much for sharing! I've just been diagnosed with osteoarthritis from climbing unfortunately, have you heard of climbers continuing to climb with osteo?

My ring finger is swollen in the proximal phalange only, is that a cause for concern? Also it’s been swollen for 3 days and it is tender just wondering if that is normal

Good video, do you think stretching and maybe some Light finger massage might help the recovery process?

Thanks so much I am a basketball player in trail and I smashed my finger against the rim then the next morning it was swollen AF and stiff

I'm not a climber or anything but pretty sure I have this issue in my left middle finger. If I place my hand flat all my fingers on the right hand are nice and flat where as my left hand it is all flat except for the joint of my middle finger. It's not painful or anything just confusing lol. It's slightly darker on the joint than the rest of the finger and when I wake up in morning or it's cold and I make a fist it kinda feels like it's trying to stretch over slightly. Idk how else to describe it. Been like that for maybe 1.5 years straight now

If i hang from a bar for any amount of time i get this for a couple of minutes before it goes away, im 18.

I think I may have this too! My middle finger gets very stiff and every now and then the knuckle joint cracks, which is pretty painful! Thanks for posting this video, I've been trying to figure out what the problem is for 2 weeks now... Resting it sucks though :-/

I bought electric hand warmers, was the only thing that seemed to really help and touch wood, been good since!

I was wondering, this climber "sausage" fingers condition are any bad for health? Or it's OK and just sorta like huge muscles of bodybuilders?

so it sounds like i have this in a few fingers. do you have any advice to help speed up recovery?

I fear I might have this. I'm not quite sure. Whenever I put my hand into a fist and then try to straighten my fingers, they don't straighten all the way like they should. But the thing that worries me is that recently I've been having the same issue with my left knee as well. None of this affects me yet, there's no pain after all, but if it gets any worse or spreads to other parts of my body I might have to go to the doctor.

I've had this in multiple fingers for 1.5 years. I talked to a finger PA and he said there was nothing he could do except give me a shot of cortisol. I've rested for 1 month on two separate occasions, and for 3 months on one occasion. I feel like there is no way to recover so I keep climbing.

Great vid! I've recently upped my climbing training to 4 or 5 days a week and have noticed in the morning that my fingers are very stiff. After a few fist clenches and warm up style movements the pain and stiffness subsides. Could this be early signs of Synovitus? I want to keep climbing but maybe I should be resting?

I’ve had this in my index finger for the past 2 months and it’s incredibly frustrating, and doesn’t seem like it’s going away, no matter how long i take off climbing. Funnily enough it feels best when I climb on it

I am a martial artist.when I blocked some punches after some times my finger hurt in middle..

Hey, I had this last year, and then I had a break for about 1 month, and it went away but came right back after the first month of taking back on climbing.. can you give me any advice ?

Very helpful...I am a sculpter and changed my clay medium to a stiffer clay....this is when it started in that first and second joint towards the tip of my thumb....can this happen in the thumb??? With covid I have avoided going to the doctor but am using a brace...I will see a doc if it keeps up. I had in the other thumb too, but milder and it got better...

Almost 3 years for me rn 😳

How do you know so much but cant say phalanx properly? (It is not a flange)

My finger looks exactly like this right now lol and my mom isn’t taking me seriously💀 it’s because I was at pe and I hit my finger against someone but I’m not sure what I hit and my finger went numb for a while and started hurting. Do you think a splint would work??

cool! thanks for the explanation! This is great. Say, wouldn't immobilizing your injured finger with tape and continuing climbing, increase the chances of injurying one of the other fingers that is now taking an abnormal load? In theory it seems possible to climb more carefully in this situation, however from my experience it's very easy to accidentally put an unintentional amount of strain on fingers because of the highly dynamic nature of body movement in climbing. After working through several finger injuries over the years, I've found that the best system is to just stop climbing and instead train your body using more predictable movement or only focus on uninjured parts of the body. Yes, this is just my personal experience.... however I also know many people that keep on climbing through finger injuries... and those people usually have their hands covered in tape because they keep on collecting new finger injuries that never heal properly. Maybe you could do a video about finger injury recovery.... ways to increase recovery time (diet, contrasting, etc)... and in that video you could cover the topic of avoiding climbing... because all too often people do themselves in by not resisting the rock.

Thanks good vid. Exactly what I've got in my right middle finger... :(

TWO WEEKS?? NOOOOOOOO (thanks for the vid)

I hate having to rest... but i guess i need to

it seems like it'll never recover based on comments. at least for people who ignored it for a while. or could they recover if they waited longer than a year??

Hi, About four months ago I was injured in my middle finger of the left hand in the football match and went immediately to the hospital and worked X-ray no break and then continued treatment with my finger by snow and then by snow and heat but so far I have a type of pain and Semi heavy when bending and there is a slight crackling, my question is what is the solution? Can you tell me please ?

my middle fingers are gone but confirmation bias tells me its ok to climb still. 6:14 "fix" is tape (just placebo). 6:35 "it's not a big deal." :D It's been on and off with me for 2+ years but after first lockdown with the forced rest, it actually healed after 3 months of no climbing...it felt alien to not feel pain on my fingers, but when the gyms re-opened, I made the mistake of going straight for v5+ climbs... lo and behold it came back after 1 session. Hopefully this second lockdown will help me with my addiction.

What its called an specialist that treats these problems? An ortopedician?, traumatologist?

Conflicts with other advice from finger experts like Dave McLeod and Esther Smith though!

goddamn i got this in my middle finger and i only boulder once a week! 3 weeks now and its still there 😭

Temporary 🧐 I have this 6 years and counting

Man you repeat yourself so much! but yeah it was helpfull thanks! hey maybe using ice or hot water helps?

this video isn't that great, i'd highly recommend hoopers beta's video on rehab techniques for synovitis

I hope you took advantage of drawing that on your finger and pretended you had a moustache

0:41 It's *swollen mate xD... jokes aside keep up the good work fam

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