Hand Specialist in Calgary

[msommers]

Looking for recommendations for an MD specialist or physio who specializes in hand injuries. I'm pretty sure it's my A2 pulley on my ring finger from climbing but would like professional confirmation and advice on what to do now.

[ExtraSlow]

Heather at fifth avenue physio downtown is a climber, so she may have some insight. Good luck.

[msommers]

Unfortunately not seeing her listed there.

In any event for future searches, these are the resources I have come across:

Hand Clinic at PLC
https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/findhealth/Service.aspx?id=1826&serviceAtFacilityID=1118860

Certified Hand Specialists in Calgary
https://www.csht.org/public-find.php


Therapists in Calgary
Karen Torstensen
Sheldon M Chumir Health Center
1213 4 Street SW
Calgary AB T2R 0X7
4039556922

Kathy McDonald
Alberta Health Services
Calgary AB
[email protected]
4039556900

Kathy Sawyer
The Edge Sport Physical Therapy
Calgary AB
[email protected]
403-239-3304

Patricia McDonald
Peter Lougheed Centre - NCAR Program
3500 - 26th Ave. NE
Calgary AB T1Y 6J4
[email protected]
403 943-4128

[mazdavirgin]

Unless you have bow stringing AKA visible deformation from the injury I wouldn't necessarily seek medical advice. These injuries are quite common they just take a long time to resolve themselves. The standard accepted practice for the injury is to take a few weeks off for the inflammation/injury to resolve itself and then move into doing very easy weight removed hangboarding. This is to allow the tissue to remodel over time. It's a long slow grind but I've had my fair share of pulley injuries in my climbing career and they've all resolved themselves without medical/surgical intervention. The more important thing is to try to identify why you got injured in the first place. Was it sudden shock loading or progressive degeneration through over use?

https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_CA/experience-story?cid=esther-smith-nagging-finger-injuries

[msommers]

That link is a great resource man, thank you so much!

I think the injury occurred because I've been crimping wrong, according to a few climbing articles I've come across. In the gym I was moving steadily in the 11's and transitioning to 12's. I thought I had a good base, hands have always done well with crimps (vs. other holds) but then a 'pop' occurred when I was on a hold (like when you crack your knuckles) and it's been sore ever since -- strange because it wasn't a pocket or crimp that this occurred but a rather large, vertically orientated piece. Holding onto moderate to heavy bags hurts, moving boxes was a bitch a couple weeks ago, bending it back is quite stiff...occasionally I'll get a muscle spasm that is in-line with my ring finger that is significantly bulging-up in my palm.

I've very hesitantly gone back climbing with taping it up watching various videos, climbing very easy stuff.

At this point I'd just like to get an official diagnosis, maybe an ultrasound and some exercises to work on daily to build things back up. That link definitely will help!

[mazdavirgin]

That link is a great resource man, thank you so much!

I think the injury occurred because I've been crimping wrong, according to a few climbing articles I've come across. In the gym I was moving steadily in the 11's and transitioning to 12's. I thought I had a good base, hands have always done well with crimps (vs. other holds) but then a 'pop' occurred when I was on a hold (like when you crack your knuckles) and it's been sore ever since -- strange because it wasn't a pocket or crimp that this occurred but a rather large, vertically orientated piece. Holding onto moderate to heavy bags hurts, moving boxes was a bitch a couple weeks ago, bending it back is quite stiff...occasionally I'll get a muscle spasm that is in-line with my ring finger that is significantly bulging-up in my palm.

I've very hesitantly gone back climbing with taping it up watching various videos, climbing very easy stuff.

At this point I'd just like to get an official diagnosis, maybe an ultrasound and some exercises to work on daily to build things back up. That link definitely will help!

Yeah to me that just sounds like a partial tear of the A2. The pop means it was more severe than a strain. If you have any kind of deformation in the fingers or severe lack of range of motion then it might be a complete tear. Otherwise it's likely to be a partial tear which means it should heal up fine given enough time. The problem with seeking medical advice is it's a bit of a crap shoot and imaging the pulleys in your fingers is as far as I know is non trivial. Likely requiring a MRI or a specific style of ultrasound to get a decent idea of what is going on in there. In a lot of cases they may not even want to send you for imaging if they don't feel the injury is severe enough but who knows your millage may vary.

I've injured plenty of fingers before and for a while was injuring a finger every half year or so... I've injured them on crimps, open hand holds, pinches, dynos, etc... The root cause for me was just climbing too much and too hard. Tendons are not like muscles you can't train them the same way. They need a lot more time to recover than muscles. Learning that I couldn't climb super hard every session was my biggest take away on the matter. That and that I couldn't climb 5 days a week without courting injury... You also have to be really careful if you're coming back into climbing after a long period of time off since your muscles will quickly get stronger than what your tendons can bear. In the end though these injuries while they feel horrible initially do usually resolve well. The discouraging part is how long they take to resolve and losing the ability to climb at the level at which you are used to... Just take your time and allow the injury time to heal. Personally I'm a big believer in modified activity so I'd definitely advocate that you keep climbing just at a lower intensity where you're not further aggravating the injury.

Anyways another good resource is Make of Break by Dave Macleod
http://onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.com/2010/05/pulley-injuries-article.html

[msommers]

Cheers my friend, that is great stuff :thumbsup: