Monday evening marked the first of three sessions for Lead Class I at Sportrock in Sterling. This was the class I had signed up for and been excited about back in February, but had to delay due to my finger injury. As (un)luck would have it, my brother suffered a slight injury the day before (non-climbing related; more of the “wet floors and gashes in elbows” type of injury) and had to cancel at the last minute. Since Sportrock wasn’t offering another Lead Class until August, he said I should go ahead and take this one, and he would jump in one of the mid-June classes out at Alexandria. Fortunately, and old acquaintance and avid climber, Rick, had signed up for the class as a skills refresher, so I had him to climb with.

The instructor, Frank, has been climbing for about 16 years and is very knowledgeable on everything climbing related. He talked for the first 45 minutes of class or so, which was a little painful for me. Most of what he went over I was already familiar with, but I guess hearing things a couple times helps to keep the basics fresh. After showing us the basics of clipping quick draws, we got to practice ourselves doing 50 clips with each hand, each direction (200 clips total!). That helped instill the motion of clipping to make it feel more natural – the last thing you want to be sweating about is the best way to clip into your quick draw!

We broke into two groups and got on the wall, which I was really excited about. We did, of course, have top-rope safety lines since sport leading was new to everyone but Rick. Rick and I climbed a 5.8 and 5.9 leading without taking any falls (I did back clip one quick draw, but shhhhh, I fixed it!). It was a really interesting experience, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Fortunately, stopping on holds to clip into quick draws was not difficult for me because I have been focusing heavily on taking breaks in the middle of climbs to shake out arms, so I only had to change my routine slightly:

1. find hold
2. shake out arm
3. clip
4. shake out other arm
5. climb on

Belaying for someone who is lead climbing is still a little worry of mine, primarily in the falling category. Since we were on top-rope safety lines Monday (and nobody fell), we didn’t get a chance to practice falls from either the belayer or climber position. I know it’s going to be a different experience. But there are two more classes left in the session, and guess what we do next week? FALLS. And I know they make you take some good falls to get the feeling. I’m excited, and a little on the nervous side as well.

If all goes well with falling, Rick and I will probably take our Lead Climbing Certification Test at the end of the evening next Monday (we graduate from pink tags to yellow tags!). Rick will pass the test no problem, and I don’t think I’ll have any issues either. I know the basics, and it’s just a matter of practicing.

Sportrock recently launched a Ning Network for internet-savvy individuals to chat, share, and generally “commune” in one convenient location. So tomorrow I’m meeting up with a new climbing partner for a few hours! Should be a lot of fun. I know a lot of people at Sportrock, but because Jonathan and I always climb together I rarely coordinate a climbing schedule with any of them. Jonathan and I are both looking to increase our trusted climbing partner database (another reason he is taking the Lead Class in Alexandria), and while I know it’s kind of lame, it’s easier for me to meet and hook up with climbers on a network like Ning than it is for me to do in person.

After being unable to climb for nearly three months, May 10th marked my return date to climbing at the gym. Happily, the finger and tendon in question are holding up pretty well, albeit I have changed my gym routine a bit to play things on the safe side, and to plan for future climbing adventures (read on!).

One of my cousins lives just outside of Atlanta and happens to be an enthusiastic climber. I ran into him a couple of weeks ago when he was in town, and he invited my brother and I down to do some climbing. So in preparation for that trip (probably in September), and the upcoming Lead I class at Sportrock, my brother and I have been focusing exclusively on top-roping at the gym.

I got off to an easy start, staying primarily on 5.6 – 5.8 routes, wanting to test the finger and see just what it was capable of. Fortunately, with the help of its three friends I’m not having any major strength issues in my right hand. I am taking precautionary measures and taping the finger and wrist to try and keep the tendon moving around too much. Not sure if that really does more than provide me a little piece of mind.

I’ve only been to the gym three times since my return, but already ramping things up and feeling pretty good about it. My brother and I didn’t really venture past the 5.10 plateau at the gym before I got injured, but we also weren’t taking falls on routes. For both of us, I think it was more of an endurance factor than a difficulty one. We are both bouldering in the V4/V5 range, which means we should be climbing 5.12 routes. While we could complete each move individually on a 5.12 route, doing the entire route without stopping was inconceivable.

Last night we decided to step it up a level and start climbing at our threshold. After warming up on some easier routes, we turned out focus to two routes: a 5.11 and a 5.11+.We both ended up taking one fall on the 5.11 at the crux move. We had worked the 5.11+ the other night and were familiar with the route, so we both completed that route without too many difficulties. The 5.11 was arguably more difficult, but both routes were a lot of fun.

As I mentioned, Lead I class is just around the corner (June 1st), and we are both excited to start sport climbing. Even though that date is just around the corner, I think we’d both like to be climbing 5.11s consistently by June 1st. I personally would like to have completed at least one, if not consistently completing, 5.12 climbs by the time we head to Atlanta.

Thanks to Facebook ads, I discovered that bentgate.com is having themselves a little summer sale. Now thru May 20th they are offering 15% – 30% off items throughout the store. Might not be a bad time to pick up those little extras you’ve had your eye on, or replace that equipment that may be nearing the end of its life.

http://www.bentgate.com/summersale.html

I was supposed to have an MRI today at 11:45 AM. I received a call from the radiology department to confirm my appointment and inform me that I was responsible for 20% of the cost of the MRI, equaling $215.93. I wasn’t happy (even though I knew it was coming).

I started thinking about my options. I realized they were as follows:

1. Get the MRI and discover one of three things – (A) I have nothing more than an overworked tendon that just requires rest and being careful with it, (B) I have a partially torn tendon, which requires rest and being careful with it, (C) I have an injury that requires surgery (unlikely, seeing I have full range of motion and a great deal of strength still in my finger).
2. Don’t get the MRI, save $215, and allow my finger more time to rest.

So either way, I was going to need to give my finger rest and simply be careful with it. So I cancelled the MRI and I’m canceling my follow-up appointment with my doctor to go over the MRI results. I’ve sent the gym director at Sportrock an email letting her know that I don’t want to freeze my membership for the month of May.

I figured that the most I can do is continue the monitor the injury and not do anything to make it worse. What that means to me is, I can still climb, but I need to be smart about it. No dynos to the right hand, no powerful lateral movement (how I injured it in the first place), and avoid really small crimps. If I avoid those things, there is no reason I shouldn’t be able to get back in the gym and at least keep up my strength and work on my endurance. If the injury gets worse or doesn’t get any better over the next 4-6 months, then I’ll go get the MRI and find out what is going on.

So May 10th I will be back in the gym climbing, and I couldn’t be happier.

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:

1. Really, really overworked tendon and muscles
2. Partial tear of the tendon
3. 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*

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®.

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.