UKC

I've had a long layoff and now I want to climb again. It'll likely be at a bouldering wall to begin.

But I have a persistent on and off discomfort in my pinkies around the top joint. It might be arthritis, I've had an x-ray and doc said it's related to damage rather than anything rheumatoid. Pressure on the joint seems to set it off e.g. carrying bags of shopping. What could I try to avoid inflaming them? I've thought of taping, maybe taping it to the next finger.

I've got arthritis in a few fingers now. When climbing on the wall, because it's more intense than climbing outside, I tape the joints of the affected fingers to support them (rather than the more usual taping between the joints which supports the tendons or pulleys).

As soon after a session as I can I put my hands in iced water for as long as I can bear it to reduce inflammation.

Climbing open handed and avoiding crimping also helps.

Sounds good, so about a 2cm width tape to completely cover the joint?

I do try to open hand, it's probably years of crimping that caused the damage☹️

Yes, and a few wraps. I do it quite tight to semi immobilise the joint. It doesn't affect climbing as much as you'd expect once you get used to it.

The icing afterwards does make a difference as well and as soon as possible after climbing. If I forget I can tell from how my fingers feel in bed overnight.

Have you tried using a forearm extensor trainer on your non-climbing days? I've started using one recently and it has alleviated the stiffness in my fingers. Thoroughly recommend, even if you don't have finger stiffness issues. 

I have arthritis in both middle finger joints. I've found doing some light 'no hangs' a few times a week really helps to keep them feeling healthy. Also gapping the joint as much as you can is good

Might sound daft, but I walk around at work day after climbing with an elastic band round my thumb and an individual finger gently opening/holding open the finger. It's the opposite of crimping.

Also found it useful at the wall after trying a hard crimpy problem to go do any easy slopper problem. Seems to ease the fingers.

What's gapping the joint? 

I've also got knackered middle finger joints. Keeping them moving helps and if really stiff wiggling the joint with the other hand to loosen it before bending it really helps. A stress ball or one of those metolius finger exercisers is good too.

10% ibuprofen gel helps too but I only use that occasionally. 

I’ve OA in fingers incl pinkies. At the start I taped, but stopped after a while of doing this. I trained myself instead not to use the pinkies with any strength, and use more open holds generally and so didn’t need to tape.

In the early days it was essential after any climbing session to plunge hands in iced water as another has mentioned. Controlled pain and stiffness once they warmed up again with blood pumping back in. After a few months though I didn’t need to do this regularly, but only after a really hard session. 

My level of climbing is not high so it has not been a problem altering technique. Of course there is little strength in my pinkies nowadays! There again I never really had a lot of strength in them. Since OA I’ve used the pinkies as little as possible so with carrying bags like you mentioned, I leave them out of the grip, and try and avoid having them bent too much anyway and certainly not cross load or have pressure on the joints.

With other fingers affected by OA though, I’ve found using them has helped them to keep going. Warm up well, and once they start getting to sore lower the grade a bit. I’m happy though to pace my climbing and not go for max, but manage within ability that fingers will cope with.

Bit tricky to explain, but I'll try my best!

- Put your hand on edge of a table so you can bend the arthritic joint at 90° over the edge of the table. I.e. Your palm and base of the finger should be flat on the table and the end of your finger pointing down (or as near as you can get it)

- Grab the end of the bent finger with the other hand and pull down. This literally separates the joint. It shouldn't be painful

- Straighten and bend the finger with your good hand, maintaining the tension

I hope that makes sense! I should add that I'm not a physio but I was given this by one and it helps me 

Makes perfect sense, thank you. 

Rheumatoid arthritis is diagnosed with a blood test as it's an autoimmune condition. But it's unlikely to be isolated to your little finger.  You've not mentioned your age, training history, occupation etc - this could be more of an inflammatory reaction rather than a degenerative issue.

Taping won't fix or prevent a finger joint problem, unless you have a fracture and are aiming to restrict movement. Possibly this may help in much later stages of arthritis, but it sounds like at this stage you can do more to prevent and improve the situation. ie look at what's causing it to become inflamed. I would pay attention to how you are loading your fingers in daily life and in climbing and try to vary the way you load them. Try to maintain mobility in your fingers - the techniques mentioned by Wide Mouth Frog and Biscuit in his recent article are useful. 

Thanks for your reply Isabelle. I didn't mention that I did have a blood test and this ruled out rheumatoid arthritis.

I'm 57 and deskbound. I have become somewhat sedentary since lockdowns. But still active, walking etc. As I mentioned I've had a long layoff from climbing; 3 years and before that it was bouldering indoors at a modest difficulty. It's a bit difficult to predict flare ups but the bag of shopping example is a sure fire trigger also things like pulling up weeds (such a rock and roll lifestyle🙂), eg pressure on the side of the finger.