Rock Climbing Blog by Derek Rippe
Archive for April, 2009
Time for an MRI
Apr 22nd
Dr. Griffith (very nice gentleman) at Arthritis and Sports Orthopaedics in Sterling signed off on the MRI. We did a quick X-Ray to ensure the bones looked alright, and briefly discussed how the injury occurred and where I still had pain. He felt that a sprained finger was out of the question (no pain/swelling at the joints), as well was a complete tendon tear (full range of motion and a decent amount of strength still present). He was able to narrow it down to three possibilities:
- Really, really overworked tendon and muscles
- Partial tear of the tendon
- Partial tear in the sheath that holds the tendon to the bone
Since my insurance requires their office to call and authorize the MRI, I’m waiting on that. Then I can get the MRI and finally determine what is really going on in my finger. Most likely, I’ll be out of climbing for quite a while still. For a partial tendon or sheathing tear, I’ll have to wait for it to heal before I can climb. If I have just drastically overworked the tendon and muscles, all I can do is let pain be my guide and start climbing when the pain subsides to a tolerable level (right now, it isn’t).
Looks like I’ll be putting my Sportrock membership on hold for another month. I’m hoping I don’t have to start discussing canceling my membership all together, as I can only freeze three months out of the year, and this will be number two.
*sigh*
The Doctor Says, "No MRI"
Apr 21st
My trip to the doctor this morning in pursuit of an order for a MRI was fruitless. Instead, I got a referral to Arthritis & Sports Orthopaedics in Sterling VA. He said they would be able to do a better job diagnosing the problem and could order an MRI if they felt it was necessary. While I agreed completely, it made me even more frustrated with Loudoun Physical Therapy for not stepping up earlier in the process and admitting that perhaps there was something more going on than they expected and I should seek a specialist. No, they’d rather continue pulling money out of my pocket. *grumble*
I definitely should have been smarter about the whole thing and just gone to the doctor first, rather than think I knew what was best.
Curious to see what the specialist says. The doctor was pretty convinced I didn’t have any sort of tear, because I have full range of motion in my finger. He thinks I just sprained it really, really badly, and said it could take 6-12 months to heal completely.
I briefly explained how frustrating that was, and he told me not to worry too much yet, because depending on the type and extent of injury I may be able to climb sooner than expected (it will just hurt). So now I’m keeping my fingers crossed (9 of them, at least), that the specialist says “climbing won’t do anymore damage, it’s just going to hurt”. As soon as I get the OK, I’m back on the wall REGARDLESS of the pain.
Buy stock in tape and ALEVE®.
Chapter One Closes, Chapter Two Begins – Final Thoughts on Physical Therapy And Next Steps
Apr 20th
Apr. 15th marked my final PT appointment for the tendon injury I have been battling. I knew things weren’t healing as well as expected before walking in there, and wasn’t surprised to receive a poor analysis on my situation from the trainer. She recommended I have an MRI done to check for any tears in the tendon, which I was planning on doing regardless of her final thoughts.
Overall, I’m pretty unhappy with the whole physical therapy thing. From the start I had been telling them where the pain was located, what caused the pain and what didn’t, and how things changed from week to week. Just one month after the injury occurred I was starting to believe that perhaps I was suffering from something more than just a strained tendon and muscle. The trainer believed otherwise, and part of me wonders if it was all an attempt to suck as much money out of me as possible before filling out the discharge paperwork.
So tomorrow morning I’m off to the doctor and then hopefully I can schedule the MRI for the same day, as I only have ten days to let Sportrock know if I’m going to be out for another month or not (most likely my RTC date (“Return To Climbing”) will be pushed back yet another month. For a tendon tear, possibly more.
Final thoughts on Physical Therapy - I don’t think I will ever be wasting my time or money again. I know the body can heal and recover naturally from simple injuries and generally being overworked. For potentially more serious injuries, I’ll go straight to the machines that can tell me exactly what is wrong, rather than sit around for two months while some speculates.
Another Injury Update
Apr 7th
It has been a LONG time since I have updated this, largely due to the fact that I have not been climbing since Feb. 19th. The flexor tendon in the fourth finger on my right hand is having major problems, and physical therapy has only gotten it so far. I have one final PT appointment on the 15th, but I may go see a hand specialist in the very near future to confirm that there isn’t (or is) something more serious going on. For a while I thought things were looking up, but the injury has been pretty stagnant the last month and I haven’t seen any changes good or bad.
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