Grip Related Injuries

[Electron]

If you've sustained grip related injuries, please use this thread to explain the nature of the injury and how the injury was sustained (which movement/exercise you were training in, etc.)

I believe that a thread like this will save many years of pain and rehabilitation for the newer members, as they are more likely to be injured doing something they're not ready for and having to get laid off from the sport.

In addition, you can post anything such as what you could have done differently to not have been hurt in the first place, what kind of prehab you neglected, etc.

I want this thread to be somewhere our knowledge and experience comes together to better the lives and training of others.

[Justin Matney]

I really screwed up the middle knuckle on each hand by doing negatives with a #3.5. This was just a few months into grip training....stupid. It hurt all the time, and it felt like sand or pebbles was between the joints.

On top of that, I was just doing too much volume. Really going for broke three days a week. I hadn't given myself enough time to slowly build up the connective tissues. I didn't know if it was going to heal at all, but a solid month off of grippers did the trick. The knuckle still catches from time to time, but the pain is gone.

I also injured some of the connective tissue between my thumb and index finger on my right hand by doing double overhand bends. This was actually worse than the gripper injuries, and still hurts a bit. Again, this was simply a matter of doing to much to soon.

[bwwm]

@Tentacle - not to rain on your parade, but isn't this in the "Lessons Learned" thread under the FAQ section?

[Electron]

@Tentacle - not to rain on your parade, but isn't this in the "Lessons Learned" thread under the FAQ section?

It's true that some information is in that thread, but that's also an all encompassing thread. I think it's good to have a specific thread to injuries.

I did steal this from Shooter77B50, he just started a thread about AW injuries. Again, different causes. I think it's equally important to have a reference for grip injuries.

[hellswindstaff]

I've sustain two grip related injuries, all three happened when I was younger and less versed in how to build strength. All of which I have rehabbed back to 100%.

1) Injury to first two knuckles on right hand, this occurred due to high volume on a gripper which I could barely close.

2) Injury to wrist from double underhand Bending, again a result of doing high volume on a bend that I could barely complete.

p.s.- One last thing... severe negatives lengthen connective tissues under tension with a supra-maximal load. Connective tissue has limited recovery. Does this sound like a good idea?

Edited September 1, 2012 by hellswindstaff

[mfin77]

Just last week, I woke up with some pain in my wrist, when I used this hand the pain radiated down to my hand, if I really pushed it, it would go into my pinky and ring fingers.. I think I stretched the ligament too much in the side of my wrist, the side of the ring and pinky fingers. I was doing elbow levers the day before..

I am about 80% now, been doing a lot of rehab work , started with light wrist curls and reverse curls, pronating and supinating light dumbbells. Also been doing ice water for ten seconds every hour, this let's blood go the injured area and promotes healing....

[daniel reinard]

Wow, there are so many injuries from climbing and grip training. Some aren't full blown injuries but they all affect training in some way. Let's see if I can remember them all.

Climbing. Span of ~4 years.

occasional ripped entire calluses off hands from slipped grips or dynos (jumping on the wall)

blood coming out from under fingernails from lots of fingertip stress on max efforts.

Golfers elbow pain from too frequent climbing.

finger tendon pains from poor technique or slips

(pretty lucky to only have these injuries while climbing. I didn't count bodily injuries from climbing.)

Grip. Span of 2 years.

Golfers elbow about every 6 months from over flexor use, normally grippers.

torn calluses from deadlifts and pinching.

blood coming out of nails from a max effort crush on a steel bend.

tennis elbow pains from DO steel bending

posterior shoulder capsul issues from DO bending. Hurt like hell for a month.

unknown reason for LH middle finger pain for last 6 months. Thinking CCS grippers did it.

jacked up tendons in middle finger, ring finger, palms, wrists, and forearms on BOTH arms from a single 2 fingertip pullup. Worst injury, recent and still recovering.

palm bruising and swelling from bending.

more tennis elbow from reverse style bending, particularly the WD tool.

sore wrists from DU bending. made it hard to perform job duties.

partially torn off thumb nails form IM hub, several occasions.

Not sure if there were other injuries. Some of those are much smaller than others but all affect training where you can't go max effort or must take time off. You can see bending takes a toll. Grippers too. I actually have 3 injuries that are overlapped right now. The middle finger, golfers elbow, and the huge tendon issues all over. I can't imaging what kind of progress I could make if I could stay healthy. Even just the elbow pain every 6 months is enough to make me set grippers down for a couple months before trying them again.

[Geralt]

Wow, there are so many injuries from climbing and grip training. Some aren't full blown injuries but they all affect training in some way. Let's see if I can remember them all.

Climbing. Span of ~4 years.

occasional ripped entire calluses off hands from slipped grips or dynos (jumping on the wall)

blood coming out from under fingernails from lots of fingertip stress on max efforts.

Golfers elbow pain from too frequent climbing.

finger tendon pains from poor technique or slips

(pretty lucky to only have these injuries while climbing. I didn't count bodily injuries from climbing.)

Grip. Span of 2 years.

Golfers elbow about every 6 months from over flexor use, normally grippers.

torn calluses from deadlifts and pinching.

blood coming out of nails from a max effort crush on a steel bend.

tennis elbow pains from DO steel bending

posterior shoulder capsul issues from DO bending. Hurt like hell for a month.

unknown reason for LH middle finger pain for last 6 months. Thinking CCS grippers did it.

jacked up tendons in middle finger, ring finger, palms, wrists, and forearms on BOTH arms from a single 2 fingertip pullup. Worst injury, recent and still recovering.

palm bruising and swelling from bending.

more tennis elbow from reverse style bending, particularly the WD tool.

sore wrists from DU bending. made it hard to perform job duties.

partially torn off thumb nails form IM hub, several occasions.

Not sure if there were other injuries. Some of those are much smaller than others but all affect training where you can't go max effort or must take time off. You can see bending takes a toll. Grippers too. I actually have 3 injuries that are overlapped right now. The middle finger, golfers elbow, and the huge tendon issues all over. I can't imaging what kind of progress I could make if I could stay healthy. Even just the elbow pain every 6 months is enough to make me set grippers down for a couple months before trying them again.

That sucks Daniel. Imagine what you could achieve indeed without those elbow problems. I'm experiencing the same, tried to work with my SW for three weeks after chitchatting with John McCarter about his achievement with this tool...and presto, Geralt gets his next injury (not to blame John's advice! Just stupid myself overdoing it to long). I got strengthprogress because of the extreme hard gripping work but together with this my lower arm is feeling painfull now, more or less tenniselbow I think. Taking it easy now, cooling, tiger balm and stretching and so. This is SO frustrating, having delt with one injury only to introduce the next one Falling for the same gap every time, when there's progress, I just want THAT bit of more progress...instead of backing off...