Every Injury I've had in my Climbing Career | Climbing Injuries
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- Опубликовано: 29 июн 2024
- These are the 10 worst climbing injuries I've ever had! Everything from A2 Pulley tear to Rotator Cuff injury to Nerve Damage - and all of them caused by climbing! In this video I talk about my climbing injuries, my mistakes and what I could have done to avoid injury. Injury isn't always completely avoidable, but we can lower the risk, and the goal of this video is to just give a bit of insight and friendly advice from my many years as an injured climber.
00:00 - Intro
01:26 - Back Injury
02:50 - Medial Collateral Ligament
04:32 - Knee Injury Again!
06:30 - Mental Burnout
08:39 - A2 Pulley Injury
11:34 - Popliteal Fossa
13:10 - Rotator Cuff
15:06 - Injury on Magic Mushrooms
16:19 - Nerve Damage (Ulnar Nerve)
19:30 - PIP Joint Capsule
22:16 - Tips + Tricks to AVOID Injury
Robbie Phillips is pro climber, climbing coach and RUclipsr from Scotland. Follow him on ridiculous climbing adventures, from van life and travelling to wild places like Yosemite and Patagonia, to indoor climbing training in the climbing gym. All craic, no crap - it’s just pure unadulterated climbing! 
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Thank you so much for compiling this. Your honesty and advice are incredible. Do take care of yourself- for yourself, but also for the people around you.
P.S. Burnout is the hardest one of all - don't make it chronic
Thanks Mark! Yeah it’s something I am constantly working on :)
Watching this 4 days into a broken ankle and feeling inspired and reassured! Thank you so much for sharing your story :-)
No worries! Hope you heal soon :)
Thanks for sharing. Really interesting to hear about your experience and thoughts about each injury. Some good advice!
Not gonna lie, I saw the "magic mushrooms" injury in the video outline and thought we were going to get a trippy story.
Great vid! Keep it up!
Haha I will admit that was a bit click Baitey 😂 but it was related to Magic Mushroom 🍄 🪄
@@RobbiePhillips I haven't been injured climbing yet, but I admittedly don't climb hard enough. I think you gave great advice.
I'm currently nursing a vasectomy complication... So that's been, uh... fun...
Great advice and your candor is very much appreciated
Thank you so much for this honest video Robbie! So many useful tips and conclusions to draw. I really appreciate that you have mentioned mental injuries as well, as I had my fair share of burnouts and physical injuries too recently. It is hard to be patient with my body and mind sometimes. Take care of yourself and keep up with the self love.
So great. Awesome content and very humbling
Thank you for this Robbie, it's good that top level climbers like you remind us all the importance of not always push too much and yet achieving great goals on the long run. I've been through burn out as well and that's a dark beast. Huge respect for overcoming all of your injuries!
Great video Robbie. As someone who is newer to climbing (pushing 3 years this June) it’s always really upsetting when even a small injury, nagging finger pain, or just weird sensation pops up and can send you into a spiral of losing progress or not reaching that next level which feels so close. I appreciate you putting this into perspective and demonstrating that even long term rehab situations aren’t the end of the world. Just gotta push that into my thick, stubborn skull.
Incredible video Robbie!
Very helpful. Thank you so much!
This was super educational, thank you!
Awesome stuff Robbie.
Great video Robbie and some great advice..... I'm sitting watching it after shock loading my right arm and shoulder tearing my right biceps and shoulder back in December, hopefully I'll get my first winter route done before the end of the month.
Great video, mate. It's always nice to listen to the wisdom of the more experienced and self reflecting climbers. We all want to train and climb hard but sometimes it's hard to find the healthy balance between rest and training. I'm definitely taking that with me: a day of rest wont make you weaker on the contrary it might make you stronger or at least help you stay injure free. Cheers!
Thank you for sharing this and by doing so hopefully preventing them for others
For me the most encouraging part of this was to hear how many injuries you have overcome. I heard somewhere that the great athletes are not the ones with perfect bodies, but the ones who can get injured (heal) and keep going. In fact, my guess is the best athletes have all experienced injury. Thanks for the tips and trips, looking forward to our climbing trip together ;-)
Thanks for the video.
Goes to show how hard it is to be an ambitious elite athlete. Most people think it's just fun and games. In a strength to weight sport you can really fuck up. You overtrain => loss in performance => you think you're not training hard enough => you overtrain more => you might go on a further caloric deficit to loss some weight to improve performance => even deeper overtrained state and stress => extremely hard situation and depression and burnout +++. This state can take a whole year to recover from. Take care fanatic fam. This activity is a blessing but our ambition can create a hellhole out of it.
I’ve experienced injury 4 a couple of of times. Self employed building, climbing, training and mainting relationships can be a tricky balance sometimes. Great vid man
I’ve recently gotten back into climbing that the pandemic is settling down. Hurt myself right before everything shut down. I am being incredibly careful this time around. Thanks for the great reminders and honesty!
super helpfull ! and a good reminder to not go too hard on your body !
“Try and avoid using technique to get over your weaknesses” - I’ll give it a shot Robbie! 😂😂😂
Actually though, you make the point several times (Dave MacLoed makes this point as well) that having a solid strength foundation can be really helpful for avoiding injury. Jokes aside, this a really awesome video and I appreciate your genuine reflection and advise on managing injuries. I think most injuries a climber will experience will relate to something this video and you provide an excellent perspective that we can hopefully learn from.
Thanks man. Glad you found it useful :)
Thank you for this, it helps.
Priceless advice -and not just for climbing!
Thank you! Solid gold!
Awesome information & insight Robbie 👌 I have several activities of injury potential ! Surfing , Rock climbing , Motorcycle , MTB , Work & Gold prospecting 👍 When i score an injury from one activity 🙃 I can always recover by investing time in another activity 😀 Your summarisation of psychological health issues is an important reminder & consideration 👍
Very useful video for injury prevention, thanks for sharing! I think keeping a journal can be a good way to prevent burnouts, especially for people who never seem to have the time to check in and reflect. Als I think a LOT of lower body bouldering injuries are actually caused by the cumulative damage from jumping down and sticking the landing when indoor bouldering. I measured the impact of that and it's WAY bigger than people think.
That’s interesting… how did you measure the impact?
Good idea on the journal.
Thanks again for your honest thoughts! I can so much relate to this feeling of being constantly tired and having bad sessions. This comes down to wanting too much whilst concurrently having a weird and troublesome personal time feeling lost. A lot of times climbing helped me coping with this situation. Like a trip to Kalymnos last year. But as you might know this is often not a solution in the long run. in March going to be there again and seriously can't wait to get some energy back. And then getting straight back on track! ☀ Take care! Sending some sunshine over :)
I know what you mean. Although those times away are not solutions, they are important times to allow us to reset and give us a bit of a break. For me last year, going climbing was a very important part of my life that kept me sane from the crazy time I was going through in my personal life. It still is in fact. I feel for me, I just need to give myself some proper rest as well, where I don’t climb, I don’t work, I just read a book or something haha
@@RobbiePhillips well… not thinking of climbing or going climbing is really hard for me. So is doing nothing. Restdays are torture. Except if I can spend them at the crag taking photos of friends climbing and hanging out. Actually some of my most favourites shots were taken during rest days… I need to plan another bike packing trip. Just the endless gravel roads through forests, my bike and tent. Anyway. We are all in this together :) I really do hope and think you will constantly find a (better) way to cope with your problems.
I usually get injured when I summon my inner Ondra/Megos lmao
Hi Robbie I’ve been climbing 22 years hand in hand as a yoga teacher and practicing a variety of yoga styles which has probably been the only reason at age 57 why I’m not permanently injured from climbing (I do have body areas I must be gentle with currently) I’d say regular yoga practice 2-3 times /week is a panacea to reduce and prevent injury, as well as heal, and induce body awareness that knows when not to press it when climbing…thank you for your insight in this video
I started going to Yoga initially to improve hip mobility, but It's useful for so much more. Core strength, Balance and Training antagonist muscles as well as the flexibility
Great video... same experience here... one significant injury every two years. Almost always from overdoing it, not preparing sufficiently, and not listening to my body.
Hi Robbie and thanks a lot for this video, in 10 years of climbing I've got quite my share of injuries too. Last being a synovitis in a PIP join too, I'm finally over it but took a good year !
Is it possible to know which exercices did you do for your popliteal muscle injury ?
Thanks and take care !
Thanks for taking the time to organize all this and share! Great reminder to exercise patience. I have moderate Raynaud’s and have found that ice cold showers or even just hands and wrists in a bowl of ice water for 5 minutes helps immensely. Very painful, but worth it! I am going to check out that arm thingy though. Looks awesome! Thanks dude!
how does the ice water help out of interest?
@@RobbiePhillips i'm not a doctor, but from what i can tell, it may help reduce inflammation, thereby increasing blood flow. if it causes numbness in my fingers, i simply put them under hot water after. i have less severe raynaud's symptoms than i did 5 years ago, instead of the other way around.
Thanks for your sharing
So happy to see a pro climber being honest about injuries. Id never have guessed from watching the long hope movie that you were going through chronic pain. Fair play for getting it done regardless.
Yeah… it was a really tough time actually. Was getting hardly any sleep because of the pain… the one positive was that during the day it wasn’t anywhere near as bad, but it did really worry me that it might get worse. That’s why when I got home I set about trying to figure out what was going on and make a bit of a plan. Still use the Armaid all the time, especially after big outdoor sessions or indoor training sessions… speaking of which, think I’ll do that right now :)
Sage wisdom! 🙏
Thanks Robbie for acknowledging just how profound the effects of raynauds is on our climbing. From someone who has this as a chronic condition and having thrown everything I can at it, I can agree with your comment that it's the biggest threat to climbing performance than any injury that I have ever had too.
Hey Sue, sorry to hear you've also really been struggling with this. What remedies have you found that helped?
The kindest thing a person with severe raynauds can do for themselves is get to a warm dry climate. Cold, wind and damp will trigger the symptoms along with finger skin compression when loading a hold. After 25+ years of the condition becoming more debilitating and (so far) any treatment pursued being ineffective for me, it's about becoming more and more smart with your tactics to be able to continue climbing. I climb very open-handed most of the time and spend more time working routes than before (I only get a few seconds on each hold in all but the most perfect conditions before capillary shutdown). Thanks for your interest and I hope it helps others who have been recently diagnosed.
At 10:00 - 10:15 you explained it so perfectly. It's like the 'unknown hold' or 'secret hard move'...lurking out there, waiting to hurt us. Maybe just have to pause, train, then try again later after recovery/rest
Great video, really interesting to hear your experience and hopefully i can apply some of the lessons learned to myself. Funny, i thought injury on magic mushrooms, you were just high and decided to climb, lol!
hahaa getting that a lot on here :P I think climbing would be the last thing id try under those circumstances
My first experience on magic mushies was looking at my hand detached from my body and turning it all around in wonder... probably not helpful for climbing 😂
Hey Robbie. Would love to hear more about your treatment and healing of your PIP injury. Its a tough one and not a lot of resources out there that offer help. Would love to hear your perspective!
Hey Brendan, the PIP one was weird... It just appeared one day and it was obvious I had a problem. I went straight to my physio and he diagnosed it fairly quickly without scans. The treatment was simply regular massage, weekly to bi-weekly treatment from the physio, and light climbing building in intensity. After 3 weeks I could climb harder stuff so long as it was in a certain grip type (no crimps basically). Climbing outside helped a lot too as its generally less intense in the upper body. I think rock has magical healing properties 😂 I am a strong believer in continuing to climb so long as there is no pain - I believe the body heals faster this way, and it's also good for you to work on different things
Thanks for your great video always. I'm interested to know how you spend your injured/recovery periods.
I am quite good at finding ways to train whilst injured. Fingers are annoying because it limits what you can do with your hands, but I often use the time at the beginning of an injury to assess what is painful and what isn’t, and if I can work around it by doing climbing training that doesn’t make it worse. I have never taped up my fingers to facilitate hard climbing whilst injured.
The knee injuries I could still fingerboard and campus, and as they got better I could climb on certain types of climbs.
Shoulder was really annoying! I had to lay off climbing, so went running instead.
Back was the same, had to take a break from climbing then slowly get back into it.
@@RobbiePhillips Thanks for the detailed reply. I injured my right index finger and it was helpful. I'm also curious how you keep yourself motivated during your recovery period. It is easy to drink and eat more without training lol
Love it!
Thanks for the video!
I have/ had the same tingeling in the hands and after a long time of looking for the cause I found out that in my case it is caused by nerves that are blocked in / around the spine and back cracking every 3-6 months at a chiropractor solves the problem. Forearm massaging didn't do it.
That’s really interesting! Glad you got it sorted!
Burnout is the worst injury I’ve had, I burnt out near the end of 2019, had climbed by first 7B the year before but had struggled to keep up the progression and found it super demotivating realising I was going backwards in my climbing (basically because I wasn’t putting the same effort in) decided to take a year out in 2020 and concentrate on rally driving but then covid hit and I spent the next 3 years eating and recovering from Covid 3 times. I’ve only just in the last month had the motivation to start climbing again, already over half a stone off and I have a totally different attitude towards climbing now, just soo happy getting outdoors again and I’ve been enjoying lower grade climbs rather then snubbing them to get shut down on climbs just out my limit, ie. Got a long way to go and still need to loose another 2 1/2 stone but I’ve got Kalymnos booked for April next year (it’s my favourite place on earth) so the Psych is super high and the fact I am hitting 40 this year is making appreciate the process a whole lot more.
Great video.
Did you do a specific exam (like an ultrasound or MRI) to find that capsule rupture? Or the physio could diagnose it just by the symptoms? Thanks
No I didn’t. I don’t think it was a full rupture, just a strain of sorts. My Physio in Edinburgh is absolutely brilliant (Phil Mack) and he has done an amazing job of diagnosing all my climbing injuries over the years, often without scanning. I think because I got in there early enough with the PIP joint, it was a relatively quick fix.
So very useful robbie.... learning that pro-climbers also get injured, as we mortals often do is comforting in many levels.
we're all mortal at the end of the day :)
Hi Robbie,
Thanks for a great video. Not sure if you read these comments but if you do I'm interested in the knuckle/capsule injury you had. I have the same thing and wondered what rehab, if any, you did for it? Horrendous slopers are OK. Positive crimps an jugs I struggle with.
oh man it was a while back... I don't actually think I had any specific rehab exercises... I think I just changed up the training to suit the injury, dialled the intensity back and made really paid close attention to how I felt throughout the session and following days. I definitely always prioritise recovery through these periods, not going for double sessions, eating well, getting good sleep - all the usual stuff we should do all the time :P but probably being more strict with it. I would say, if slopers are ok, then just switch to that for a while. Be careful you don't overdo it - maybe doing shorter quality sessions for a while will be a good idea too.
After a broken leg and torn bicep tendon from climbing, both requiring surgery, I'm still at it... probably stronger (and wiser) than ever.
Great to hear man! They sound rough!!! Strong effort for getting back to it :)
Very good recap, thanks for that. The best solution to this, I find, is be more like me and have very weak fingers. That way you can't overtrain and can never grip too hard. Sorted.
Haha well… I would say I have “relatively” weak fingers as well. My point about “not using technique to overcome weakness” was a bit of a joke, but there’s also some truth to it. When we’re weak, we look for ways we can get round it by using our body in more obscure ways. Often this can result in using what I would regard as “mechanical advantages” from end of range movements ie when you reach the end of range of a movement from a joint, you get a solid platform to hold a position without much need for muscular strength. Unfortunately, when you push that beyond it’s capable load, an injury usually occurs. This is why being “weak” isn’t a great option either… but we do need to strengthen all these areas so that when we do use these “mechanical advantages” we are less likely to get injured. Or you can just climb really easy stuff… then you probably won’t get injured either haha
@@RobbiePhillips I love a mechanical advantage too, especially Jumars. Seriously though, my other injury prevention advantage is that I can't even get into those obscure ways you mention. Still, I love climbing, that's my one and only real advantage. 😂 But ok, I don't climb 8c.
@@RobbiePhillips BTW, did you chat with Dave McLeod re. burnout and depression? His take (keto freed him of it) is very interesting.
In all seriousness this is spot on for tendon and ligament strain. Sure antagonist training helps support stress points but mostly climbers train the 'hero' muscles too much/too fast compared to conditioning the rest of the system - works if you just want to 'go hard', pump up the grades and deal with injuries later but misses the opportunity to actually learn about and develop your body at a healthy pace and enjoy the whole process of climbing
I have had a couple of strains so far in about 3 years since getting back into climbing, Ive learned that just because I'm flexible enough does not mean you can put down all the power. I now take a slightly slower approach, also I will let go when things feel a bit weird, then work on some stretches and specific stuff to make that feel better. Also don't forget agnostic exercises.
Had three injuries in a row last year, shit sucks. My main focus is staying healthy at this point. I figure if I stay healthy, I'll naturally progress further than if I train too hard and have another forced three month break
I do believe it’s finding a good balance. To improve we have to try hard… but you’re right, staying healthy is super important. Getting good quality sleep, eating well, trying to stay as stress free as possible. All this helps. Also getting adequate recovery between sessions is super important.
Hey Robbie !
What was your diagnosis for the shoulder injury ? did you completely rupture your rotator cuff ? Were you able to fully heal without surgery or is it still an issue ?
This video worries me as I've got some soreness/synovitis in my left ring finger PIP joint.. anyway I've always wondered, can you become really strong at climbing without having any injuries? Or is it inevitable, or even almost part of getting stronger? Because my friend who regularly climbs V7's at my gym, his synovitis is so bad he can't touch this fingers to the palm of his hand..
While bouldering a few years ago, my shoulder dislocated. And then 2 times more during bouldering. After an operation (Bankart repair) and each time long rehabilitation, he unfortunately went out again. Now I have had surgery again (Latarjet) and according to my surgeon climbing should be possible again. But of course I'm afraid it will go wrong again. This injury has haunted me for 5 years now. Are there others who have experience with this? I don't want to give up climbing and i am hopeful that mountaineering is possible again.
I know a few folk who’ve had some very serious shoulder issues and surgery over the years who have come back stronger. Hazel Findlay is one of them - you should maybe have a read of her experiences over on her Instagram from a while back. Not sure if she did any blogs or videos on it?
Thanks for your comment! I'll check out her story. I really like your channel and what you do. Keep up the good work. Greetings from the Netherlands.
Bro i just injured my right shoulder doing a dumb move listen this relax me more(because I felt with a lot of anger with myself)
I have been climbing probably around 1-1.5 years over the last 3-4 years and I am really careful of what I do. I would love to climb harder but I am well aware of my body and I try to avoid climbing on too many crimps or at least the ones that are way to small for me now (even though I could hold onto them) completely. I think my muscular strength is far ahead of the strength of my bones and ligaments. I also told myself to not do any hangboard training prior climbing at least 1-2 years straight. When I feel like there is any sort of pain, I stop climbing immediately. Rather not climb a week then needing to stop multiple weeks or even months.
I also encourage everyone to do a good amount of warm up training for your whole body to prevent injuries from beginning on. Take your time and give your joints and ligaments the time they need to warm up.
So far I hadn’t had any severe injury and I would love it to stay that way, but you’ll never know what happens! I would definitely love to be further then 6b - 6c rope climbing and around same difficulty on Boulder problems, but my health status is more important to me, then being injured frequently. I’d rather take it slow and prepared!
Stay safe everyone!
Hi Robbie. I have a swollen middle joint in the middle finger. Do you think it could also be a joint capsule injury. I also lost mobility of the joint. I have it for a couple of weeks now.
Hey man, I’m not qualified to tell you, even if I could look at it in person. I really recommend seeing a specialist physio with climbing experience ASAP. They’ll be able to assess, diagnose, and treat :)
Watching this video, I realize I am the same as you are. I don’t climb as hard or as serious, and I am older - but I’m an equal idiot as you 😅and I’ve got much of the same injuries.
I got Raynaud (never thought about blocked nerves). I injured my knee, heel hooking. And injured my fingers because I wasn’t ready/warm/trained for those moves.
My knee isn’t fully recovered after physio and 6 months. I think it might be mentally, I just dare not to load my knee like I used to do. Which is a shame. My legs were always my strength in climbing.
We idiots gotta stick together! Try the massage and nerve flossing - been doing both and it helps with Raynauds for me.
@@RobbiePhillips thanks for the tip
watching this while not climbing at all since November 2021... both shoulders chronically impinged, both knees popping out when under pressure and majority of finger joints on hands having some kind of problem... and what's even worse, even though I am not climbing, the biggest issue - shoulders didn't improve at all, on the contrary it seems to get worse... I am trying everything I've seen, physio-exercises etc. but the pain in shoulders wont go away, feels like a constant inflammation and to me it looks like the end of my climbing, no idea what to do
Swimming is supposed to be good
Oh My God!! What a nightmare... Im very sorry to hear of your situation :( I am no physio, but have you tried very very light climbing to encourage things along a bit? My pyysio encourages me to do easy climbing after the imflamation has gone down from the initial injury. It's all relative to the type of injury of course
That knee tear is just proof to why training your legs is still important for climbing
Im dealing with a severe ankle sprain and my god these injuries just take too long
I’ve also injured myself on magic mushrooms just not the climb
🤣 ✨🍄✨🤕
Watching this in my 5th week of dislocated & fractured right ankle….bouldering whilst stoned as fuck not always ideal.
This was the most painful video to watch ever
5.14b on one leg is wild
i feel like i'm scared to go 100% in the gym or outside because i'm afraid of injuring myself. has anyone else felt this? do you think i should get over it and climb harder?
I know how you feel. I think you just need to take it slowly to build confidence. Is there any specific things your nervous about? I find with small holds it’s a good idea to try and condition yourself to holding them by doing a bit of training on a fingerboard or easier climbs on smaller holds.
When I read injury on magic mushrooms I was expecting something completely diffrerent...
hahaa i think a lot of folk were :P
I hope I don’t get injured too bad
What climbing gym is picture at 1:38?
That’s EICA: Ratho circa 2005
Nice to watch while lying on the couch with inflamed sciatica. Because of fancy compsim starts :-D
Don’t get me started on comp starts! 😑 Put feet in weird unnatural place, and then do some random move 😂 It really isn’t for me
Didnt Magnus Midtbø say he has never been injured?
not sure... Im sure there are some who haven't been injured. Maybe a bit of luck, genetics, or they were just super careful? Hard to tell
So sometimes the key to a hard send is... injure yourself, tape it, go again, send.... video should be called The Science of the Send .
ongong
So after all this you have only been climbing about 10 years total 😄
Thanks for this video, very helpful and informative.