Ask Dr J – Issue 256 – The curse of lumpy
INJURY I was climbing and suffered a similar injury in the palm of each hand beneath my ring fingers. The injury felt…
Climbing Injury Library
Practical writing on injury prevention, diagnosis and rehabilitation for climbers and adventure athletes.
Ask Dr J – Issue 255 – Curses, cramps!
INJURY In the last few weeks I have increasingly been getting cramps in my hands, especially my thumb, while climbing. At first…
Ask Dr J – Issue 228 – Blown tendons, torn toes, and a solid inkling
I grabbed a small pocket on a boulder and felt a pang in my forearm but kept climbing. I read your article…
Ask Dr J – Issue 227 – More quackery elbow treatments to avoid
I’ve been climbing for five years and in the last year have experienced considerable elbow pain around the medial epicondyle. I went…
Ask Dr J – Issue 225 – Bad to the bone busted hand and a heart for climbing
I was climbing a vertical face in the Grampians, and the crux move was a dyno. I missed, and fell awkwardly, impacting…
Ask Dr J – Issue 223 – Dodgy elbows revisited
Ten years and a few thousand elbow patients ago, I designed a strengthening program to help climbers recover from tendinosis. The regime…
Ask Dr J – Issue 220 – Stepping up snapped ankle tendon, lumbar bone spurs & bad discs
I snapped my peroneal retinaculum on my right ankle while high stepping four months ago and had surgery to repair it a…
Ask Dr J – Issue 219 – Bunions and rockshoes & does freezing make your fingers stronger?
I am developing a bunion on my right foot and it is increasingly painful to climb. I worry that my moderately aggressive…
Ask Dr J – Issue 217 – Exploded shoulders and finger cysts
** I dislocated my shoulder over the summer and was forced to take a hiatus from climbing. After three months of physical…
Ask Dr J – Issue 216 – Ankle replacements and do-it-yourself medicine
I fractured my talus and have looked into the worst-case scenario—the death of the talus bone. My surgeon said if this happened,…
Pop goes the finger – pulley and meniscus injuries
I was bouldering and I suddenly weighted a two-finger hold with my left hand. I felt something in my ring finger and…
Ask Dr J – Issue 214 – Breaking bad – turning a talus into talus
So after nearly three decades of ice climbing, I finally got a little careless, screwed up and took a short groundfall catching…
Ask Dr J – Issue 213 – Bulging discs, tingling fingers and hellacious pain
For the past few months, I have had pain on the posterior aspect of the PIP joint of my ring finger. I…
Ask Dr J – Issue 212 – My wrist hurts – cleaning injury sidelines developer
Last week I spent several hours aggressively wirebrushing the lichen off a dirty new climb I was bolting. The next day the…
Ask Dr J – Issue 211 – Why icing slows healing and the imbalance myth
A few weeks ago I noticed tenderness in the last joint of my index finger after a session at the gym. I…
Ask Dr J – Issue 209 – The bad news about arthritis
I am 40 and have been climbing for 25 years. I get pain and stiffness in the joints at the end of…
Ask Dr J – Issue 208 – Bursting biceps
I was on a route yesterday where I had a four-finger undercling with my right hand. As I put all my weight…
Ask Dr J – Issue 207 – Tendon truths
Last fall I injured the supinator muscle in my right arm slightly while climbing. This led to radial nerve impingement. A couple…
Ask Dr J – Issue 206 – Blown knees, shoulder woes and gorgeous rescuers
I got a heel hook, rocked up and tucked my foot under my pelvis, even camming my toe against the wall a…
Ask Dr J – Issue 205 – Nerve tension, stressed out fingers, shoulder pain?
About 10 days ago I noticed numbness in my left-hand pinky, and a bit in my ring finger. I thought I had…
Ask Dr J – Issue 204 – Talus trouble
I’ve just had microfracture treatment on an osteochondral fracture of the talus. Four weeks non-weight-bearing; possibly six. I am hoping to use…
Ask Dr J – Issue 203 – Battling pain
For the past six months (give or take a week) my right index finger has been swollen around the first finger joint…
Ask Dr J – Issue 201 – The tennis elbow cure
I have tennis elbow that only hurts when I pick up something heavy. I tried climbing, felt pain, rested a week, and…
Ask Dr J – Issue 200 – Mind the bollocks
I was toproping indoors, fell about three feet and felt a sharp pinch near where my penis meets my abdomen. The next…
Ask Dr J – Issue 199 – Arthritis, inevitable?
I’m 28 and have sport climbed for 10 years. I push myself hard but have taken most of the last year off.…
Ask Dr J – Issue 198 – NSAIDs: killing you softly with their love
NS AIDS I have been taking ibuprofen for many years, intermittently but consistently, for various recurring sorts of ills. Sore elbows, twanged…
Ask Dr J – Issue 197 – “i hate rock climbers”. cripes!
Why It Hurts I got an MRI because my doctor suspected a TFCC tear in my wrist. The imaging showed a perforation…
Ask Dr J – Issue 196 – Out for life?
Out For Life? I’m a 25-year-old female. I tore one of my radio-ulna [RU] ligaments and the triangular fibrocartilage complex [TFCC] two…
Ask Dr J – Issue 195 – Sex and elbows
Sex & Elbows I no longer produce much testosterone because I’ve been on pain medicine so long. I put on 20 pounds,…
Ask Dr J – Issue 194 – Love the sloper
Learn to Love Slopers Recently I strained my wrist quite badly while climbing. Slopers and pinches are painful. I’m concerned about pushing…
Ask Dr J – Issue 193 – Practitioner love
What’s All the F.U.S. About? I jumped down from a boulder problem in the gym and felt a sharp pain in the…
Ask Dr J – Issue 192 – Ankle mayhem
Ankle Mayhem Recently I was working a boulder problem over and over with no success. Getting frustrated, I decided to try some…
Ask Dr J – Issue 191 – Snap, crackle, wrist
Snap, Crackle, Wrist Two weeks ago I tweaked my wrist doing a funky mantel, but it didn’t hurt until the next day.…
Ask Dr J – Issue 190 – Getting it back
Getting it Back Two months ago I was upgrading hardware in Rifle Mountain Park and fell from 20 feet straight onto my…
Ask Dr J – Issue 189 – Ruined!
Ruined! I started climbing six months ago and gradually increased my level to a lethal week: four straight days of hard bouldering…
Ask Dr J – Issue 188 – Pushing limits and breaking bones
Pushing Limits and Breaking Bones About eight weeks ago I pulled my right hamstring at the attachment while heel hooking. I didn’t…
Ask Dr J – Issue 187 – Cracked tip smackdown
Cracked-Tip Smackdown My fingertips keep splitting open. I moisturize and use additive-free chalk but my hands still dry out. Any suggestions? Dhill…
Ask Dr J – Issue 185 – Bouldering? in your dreams!
I Tore My Knee: When can I resume bouldering? I am 16 weeks out from an ACL reconstruction and meniscus repair. I…
Ask Dr J – Issue 184 – Chin in, tits out
What’s Up With Your Hunchback? What’s up with those climbers who look honed as hell, but the minute they step off the…
Ask Dr J – Issue 183 – Boobie trapped with a titanium spear
TITANIUM RODS AND GENITAL PIERCINGS I broke my leg bouldering and had a titanium rod installed. I have heard mixed reports about…
Ask Dr J – Issue 182 – Strong to the core
STRONG TO THE CORE Four months ago I severely injured my abdomen while doing side-toside crunches on an inclined board. At first…
Ask Dr J – Issue 181 – Big boots and tantric pole dancing
BIG BOOTS AND PSEUDOGOUT Several years ago I attempted the Southwest Couloir route on Mount Huntington in Alaska in some oversized Koflach…
Ask Dr J – Issue 180 – Shocking!
GRECIAN FORMULA I broke two toes a few months back and they have yet to heal. One is looking OK, but the…
Ask Dr J – Issue 179 – What does Obama’s vegie patch and your elbow have in common?
PINKY POWER I have pain and swelling on the joint at the base of my pinky. The pain is point specific to…
Ask Dr J – Issue 178 – Taping and the cycle of ignorance
A REAL FLAPPER I recently cut off the tip of my left index finger with a plate joiner. I am a new…
Ask Dr J – Issue 176 – Uncomfortably numb
UNCOMFORTABLY NUMB I have numbness in my hands and fingers while sleeping. I’ve started spending more time bouldering in the gym and…
Ask Dr J – Issue 175 – Dust in your gun, and things that go pop!
DUST IN YOUR GUN The morning after a day of hard gym bouldering, I noticed a popping or mild locking in my…
Ask Dr J – Issue 174 – Tabsco fiasco
TABASCO FIASCO I’ve been doing hangboard and pull-up sessions with added weight. I have had medial elbow tendonosis in the past, and…
Ask Dr J – Issue 173 – Burning joints at the alter of hedonism
BURNING JOINTS AT THE ALTAR OF HEDONISM I’ve had an inflamed middle knuckle in one of my fingers for a few months.…
Ask Dr J – Issue 172 – A viral affair
A VIRAL AFFAIR I woke up after a couple of days of hard climbing with severe pain in both shoulders. It’s mostly…
Ask Dr J – Issue 171 – A wristed development
A WRISTED DEVELOPMENT A week ago I was climbing at Arapiles when I felt my wrist twinge on a hand jam. It…
Ask Dr J – Issue 170 – The ‘Paris Hilton test’ of worthiness
JUGGLING OOMPA LOOMPAHS I’ve had elbow tendonosis for the last year and am finally back to climbing pain free. A physical therapist…
Ask Dr J – Issue 169 – Samurai sex for dummies
Samurai Sex Will stretching help prevent injuries? If so, when should I stretch— before, during or after climbing? Rosco Taylor Blue Mountains,…
Ask Dr J – Issue 167 – Peace, love and a happy world
Peace, love and a happy world My hands, especially my little fingers, go numb (they tingle), whenever I climb a lot. A…
Ankles Away
Ankles Away Climbing Doc Julian saunders gives the lowdown on boulders’ most injured joint Click here to download the pdf Highball atmospherics…
Ask Dr J – Video – Elbows explained
In this article hear firsthand from Dr Julian as he talks through the ins and outs of climbing related elbow injury and…
Avoiding Injuries
Avoiding Injury A complete guide to your body Click here to download the PDF Snap! Bang! Grind! Ow, FUBAR! Oh, the mellifluous…
Blondes Have More Fun – Dupuytren’s Undressed
Click here to download the PDF
Dodgy Elbows
Dodgy Elbows Click here to download the pdf which contains the full rehab program. More recalcitrant than Castro, though less charismatic, elbow…
Shoulder Impingement
Click here to download the pdf As any biologist will tell you, ‘the Golden Rule’ when studying an organism is that structure…
Stressed Out Fingers
Dr. J takes a look at climbing’s most under diagnosed injury: finger stress fractures. Click here to download the PDF You might…
Stretching The Truth
Stretching The Truth Click here to download the pdf The age-old art of bending yourself into positions never before realised sat at…
Tape and Other Catastrophies
Dr Julian Saunders is an Australian climber and Osteopath, specialising in climbing injuries. He combines these rare attributes to explain a few…
The Injury Gospel
The Injury Gospel Injured again—bummer. Julian Saunders helps you off the injury treadmill Click here to download the pdf Thou shalt not…
Wrist Injuries
The Big Squeeze NAVIGATING THE SLIPPERY SLOPE OF WRIST HEALTH Click here to download the pdf THE WRIST, INNOCUOUSLY situated between your…