Sometimes things just seem to come together.
One Saturday morning, the day after my post on how I was having doubts about returning to climbing, a copy of Climb Magazine arrived through my letter box. Inside was an article on climbing coaches on how they can help climbers develop.
One of the case studies featured was a lady called Dawn who had started using a climbing coach following knee surgery (following an injury sustained at an indoor boudlering wall- I would say snap, but that sounds a little inappropriate given the context). She talked about how , through coaching, she regained a lot of her confidence, as well as her physical skills. She said that she would definitely recommend coaching for anyone with issues with confidence, especially coming back from an injury.
I hadn't considered coaching before. I have seen people training with a coach at my local wall, but I am very self conscious and the idea of paying someone to watch me climb gave me sweaty palms. When I first started climbing I would find the room with the fewest people in and climb the problems there, and I never, ever climbed in the room in front of the reception. I know that in reality nobody is really paying any attention to what I'm doing, but that doesn't stop me from feeling self conscious and shy.
I will definitely consider giving coaching a go. In general I would say it isn't for me- I climbed because I enjoyed it and while getting better was satisfying, I was content to improve at a slower rate just by climbing a lot.
I hadn't really thought about coaching for confidence or psychologically getting over injury. I might try dipping my toe in the water and attending some of the free women's and improver classes held at my local wall to see if I would benefit from some instruction, or if its more stressful than helpful.
Monday 14 July 2014
Friday 11 July 2014
Week 4, part 2
Since I have started on some exercise that ultimately aims to smooth my return to climbing once all of my physical rehabilitation is complete (in about a year from now), it seems somewhat deceitful not to discuss an issue that has been playing on my mind for several months now; I'm not sure I want to return to climbing. (Not to mention this blog is meant to be about getting back to the wall).
Prior to my injury I was climbing 4-5 times a week, and I had just started to make trips outdoors (I had only been climbing for a little over a year when I was injured). I really loved climbing, and whilst I was nowhere near an advanced climber (a single v7 (indoors), after a good couple of weeks work is the hardest I have ever climbed) I had made quite a lot of progress in the latter part of the year (I started with hardly any upper body strength and it took me months to be able to climb even the simplest v0 over hangs). I was running a couple of times a week, trying some upper body, finger and core conditioning exercises and doing a lot of stretching to improve my climbing (I'm not tall, and not hugely strong, so my climbing was really based around my flexibility). Basically, a lot of my time revolved around climbing.
When I first had to stop climbing due to injury I missed it terribly. There were huge gaps in my schedule where climbing and climbing related activities used to be and I didn't know what to do with my time. However, as the months past that desperation to get back to the wall faded and I just got used to not climbing.
Now, I look at videos on youtube of the bouldering world cups, or see my friends trying problems and I wince at every drop knee, every fall. Instead of a really interesting or fun problem and great technical skill all I see are the many ways you could injure your knee. As much as I have learned to cope with being injured and it definitely isn't the end of the world, I really doubt I have the mental strength to go through what will in the end be about 18 months of rehab again.
I am starting to prepare myself for a return to climbing, building up my finger strength etc, so that I can decide much later down the rehab line if it is what I want to do. In some ways I know that this is stupid, my fall was very unlucky and I could do exactly the same injury slipping in the street, but at the moment I feel like I would psychologically hold myself back. I want to climb because I enjoyed it. If all I end up doing is thinking about my knee and the possibility of injury the fun will be well and truly zapped out of it.
There isn't a proper conclusion to this post because I haven't worked out what I want to do yet. Part of me thinks I won't know until a year from now when I try a problem again for the first time. I just wanted to share my doubts because I think there's more to injury rehabilitation that the physical.
Prior to my injury I was climbing 4-5 times a week, and I had just started to make trips outdoors (I had only been climbing for a little over a year when I was injured). I really loved climbing, and whilst I was nowhere near an advanced climber (a single v7 (indoors), after a good couple of weeks work is the hardest I have ever climbed) I had made quite a lot of progress in the latter part of the year (I started with hardly any upper body strength and it took me months to be able to climb even the simplest v0 over hangs). I was running a couple of times a week, trying some upper body, finger and core conditioning exercises and doing a lot of stretching to improve my climbing (I'm not tall, and not hugely strong, so my climbing was really based around my flexibility). Basically, a lot of my time revolved around climbing.
When I first had to stop climbing due to injury I missed it terribly. There were huge gaps in my schedule where climbing and climbing related activities used to be and I didn't know what to do with my time. However, as the months past that desperation to get back to the wall faded and I just got used to not climbing.
Now, I look at videos on youtube of the bouldering world cups, or see my friends trying problems and I wince at every drop knee, every fall. Instead of a really interesting or fun problem and great technical skill all I see are the many ways you could injure your knee. As much as I have learned to cope with being injured and it definitely isn't the end of the world, I really doubt I have the mental strength to go through what will in the end be about 18 months of rehab again.
I am starting to prepare myself for a return to climbing, building up my finger strength etc, so that I can decide much later down the rehab line if it is what I want to do. In some ways I know that this is stupid, my fall was very unlucky and I could do exactly the same injury slipping in the street, but at the moment I feel like I would psychologically hold myself back. I want to climb because I enjoyed it. If all I end up doing is thinking about my knee and the possibility of injury the fun will be well and truly zapped out of it.
There isn't a proper conclusion to this post because I haven't worked out what I want to do yet. Part of me thinks I won't know until a year from now when I try a problem again for the first time. I just wanted to share my doubts because I think there's more to injury rehabilitation that the physical.
Tuesday 8 July 2014
Week 4
I have become a bit frustrated by the extremely slow rate of progress with my knee. I'm still using a crutch and in the past three weeks I have barely left the house save for a trip to the hospital and the doctor's surgery. This is in part because I can't get public transport anywhere unless I can be guaranteed a seat, and I can go anywhere in crowds because whilst walking in a straight line (with the aid of a crutch) is pretty easy I can't do any twisting to move out of anyone's way. I'm lucky that I can work from home so I don't have to take a huge amount of sick leave to cover this period.
I get over these frustrations and stop myself from slipping in to a low I have decided to slowly start trying to build up my finger strength. When I first injured myself I did try to maintain my upper body, core and finger strength, but after about six months when it became clear I wasn't going to be climbing any time soon my motivation disappeared and that all fell by the wayside.
I have read a lot about how to improve climbing you need to work on developing technique rather than strength. While I believe that this is true, 1. I can't work on technique now so it's strength or nothing, and 2. I think that these 'how to improve' guides are often written with men in mind. Since men build up their upper body strength faster than woman it is much easier for them to make huge gains through a bit of strength training ling before they have developed even basic technique than it is for a woman to get to this position. I'm also hoping that I will still have some of my technique left when I return to climbing (though at this point I don't feel like I remember anything).
The first thing I have been using is a Powerball gyro (I say have been using, I have started to use it again today). You circle your hand clockwise and counter clockwise working your forearm muscles, and depending on how you hold your arm, your supper arm muscles too. The faster you circle, the tighter you have to grip, so there is some grip work there too. I mainly just use this to warm up and get some blood flowing in to my arms because attempting any finger work (even fairly gentle stuff) without warming up first is just asking for a tendon strain.
I used to use this on my way to climbing for about 10 minutes on each arm (5 minutes clockwise, 5 minutes counter clockwise) so that after some dynamic stretches I was able to hop on the wall without tearing my tendons to shreds. I can't do 10 minutes at the moment, and since my knee meas I won't be climbing anytime soon there is very little point in pushing my fingers at the moment, so I'm doing 6 minutes (3 clockwise, 3 counter clockwise), and at a more gentle pace than before. I can feel my forearm and biceps working as I do it, which is quite nice in a way, it feels like I'm doing something.
The next thing I am using is the Gripmaster Pro medium tension. I also own the heavy tension, but after a couple of months of no finger work at all the medium tension is really all I can manage at the moment. I used to use my heavy tension grip once of twice a week prior to injury. I really only bought it so I had something to do on the bus to work, because i figured this was dead time otherwise. I'm not sure how effective it is, but I think it did help my open palm holds which makes finger injuries less likely.
This Grip master allows you to practice an open palm crimp type grip, and a pinch type grip. My pinch has also been quite weak so hopefully I'll be able to build it up a bit. I am alternating hands and grip styles and holding each grip for 12 seconds (12 because I like the number 12). I'm trying to do 4 repetitions of of the crimp, and 4 or the pinch on each hand.
My aim is to use this Gripmaster before moving on the the heavy tension model, and then on to a hang board before I return to climbing. The hang board is really the best way to practice grip strength, and the only way that I think I will be able to practice slopers (which I love).
In the coming weeks I want to add in some core and upper body strength and conditioning exercises. I think the core is especially important for climbing, so I'd like to be able to get that into good shape so that (hopefully) I don't just flop all over the place. I really can't wait to return to stretching. I think that will have to wait until at least 12 weeks post op when the graft is getting stronger, but it is something that I am really going to enjoy getting back to.
I get over these frustrations and stop myself from slipping in to a low I have decided to slowly start trying to build up my finger strength. When I first injured myself I did try to maintain my upper body, core and finger strength, but after about six months when it became clear I wasn't going to be climbing any time soon my motivation disappeared and that all fell by the wayside.
I have read a lot about how to improve climbing you need to work on developing technique rather than strength. While I believe that this is true, 1. I can't work on technique now so it's strength or nothing, and 2. I think that these 'how to improve' guides are often written with men in mind. Since men build up their upper body strength faster than woman it is much easier for them to make huge gains through a bit of strength training ling before they have developed even basic technique than it is for a woman to get to this position. I'm also hoping that I will still have some of my technique left when I return to climbing (though at this point I don't feel like I remember anything).
The first thing I have been using is a Powerball gyro (I say have been using, I have started to use it again today). You circle your hand clockwise and counter clockwise working your forearm muscles, and depending on how you hold your arm, your supper arm muscles too. The faster you circle, the tighter you have to grip, so there is some grip work there too. I mainly just use this to warm up and get some blood flowing in to my arms because attempting any finger work (even fairly gentle stuff) without warming up first is just asking for a tendon strain.
I used to use this on my way to climbing for about 10 minutes on each arm (5 minutes clockwise, 5 minutes counter clockwise) so that after some dynamic stretches I was able to hop on the wall without tearing my tendons to shreds. I can't do 10 minutes at the moment, and since my knee meas I won't be climbing anytime soon there is very little point in pushing my fingers at the moment, so I'm doing 6 minutes (3 clockwise, 3 counter clockwise), and at a more gentle pace than before. I can feel my forearm and biceps working as I do it, which is quite nice in a way, it feels like I'm doing something.
The next thing I am using is the Gripmaster Pro medium tension. I also own the heavy tension, but after a couple of months of no finger work at all the medium tension is really all I can manage at the moment. I used to use my heavy tension grip once of twice a week prior to injury. I really only bought it so I had something to do on the bus to work, because i figured this was dead time otherwise. I'm not sure how effective it is, but I think it did help my open palm holds which makes finger injuries less likely.
This Grip master allows you to practice an open palm crimp type grip, and a pinch type grip. My pinch has also been quite weak so hopefully I'll be able to build it up a bit. I am alternating hands and grip styles and holding each grip for 12 seconds (12 because I like the number 12). I'm trying to do 4 repetitions of of the crimp, and 4 or the pinch on each hand.
My aim is to use this Gripmaster before moving on the the heavy tension model, and then on to a hang board before I return to climbing. The hang board is really the best way to practice grip strength, and the only way that I think I will be able to practice slopers (which I love).
In the coming weeks I want to add in some core and upper body strength and conditioning exercises. I think the core is especially important for climbing, so I'd like to be able to get that into good shape so that (hopefully) I don't just flop all over the place. I really can't wait to return to stretching. I think that will have to wait until at least 12 weeks post op when the graft is getting stronger, but it is something that I am really going to enjoy getting back to.
Friday 4 July 2014
Week 3, part 2
So the last few days have been a bit of a regression.
I had the remains of my stitches removed last Thursday. However, I had a bit of a scab at the end of the incision where they took out the hamstring for the graft, and after this washed away it revealed some more remnants of stitches. These poking out of my skin have prevented the wound from fully closing over, and have become a little bit infected with a little reddening and some discharge.
I've been to see my local doctor, however she said that as the rest of the wound has healed and the operation was over 3 weeks ago, the chances of a proper infection setting in are small. As the stitches are meant to be soluble she predicted that they would eventually dissolve, or if they haven't by the next time I see the surgeon (3 weeks from yesterday) he could remove them. She thinks that tampering with it might just lead to greater problems.
My knee has become a little more swollen and tender and I am back to using two crutches, having reduced to one last week. I can bear weight on my leg, but it feels very bruised and it quite painful. My limp has also got worse. Going back to two crutches is a little bit frustrating since I was told that I wouldn't even need crutches at all two weeks post surgery, but there isn't much I can do about that. I thought that this might be due to the infection from the stitches, but the doctor says its more likely that I was just a bit too keen and did a little too much too soon.
In general the slow pace of recovery for the last few weeks has been a little frustrating. I knew it would be slow, but it doesn't really make it any less annoying.
I had the remains of my stitches removed last Thursday. However, I had a bit of a scab at the end of the incision where they took out the hamstring for the graft, and after this washed away it revealed some more remnants of stitches. These poking out of my skin have prevented the wound from fully closing over, and have become a little bit infected with a little reddening and some discharge.
I've been to see my local doctor, however she said that as the rest of the wound has healed and the operation was over 3 weeks ago, the chances of a proper infection setting in are small. As the stitches are meant to be soluble she predicted that they would eventually dissolve, or if they haven't by the next time I see the surgeon (3 weeks from yesterday) he could remove them. She thinks that tampering with it might just lead to greater problems.
My knee has become a little more swollen and tender and I am back to using two crutches, having reduced to one last week. I can bear weight on my leg, but it feels very bruised and it quite painful. My limp has also got worse. Going back to two crutches is a little bit frustrating since I was told that I wouldn't even need crutches at all two weeks post surgery, but there isn't much I can do about that. I thought that this might be due to the infection from the stitches, but the doctor says its more likely that I was just a bit too keen and did a little too much too soon.
In general the slow pace of recovery for the last few weeks has been a little frustrating. I knew it would be slow, but it doesn't really make it any less annoying.
Tuesday 1 July 2014
Week 3
With all the dressing removed so begins 'scar watch' 2014...
To be honest I thought it was going to be much worse. The largest incision (where the graft was taken from the hamstring) is only an inch and a half or there abouts. I had visions of a 15cm line down the middle of my calf.
I still have residue from the dressing on my knee, but my knee and shin are still very tender so I can't do any scrubbing to remove it. I also can't rub any ointment into the skin as it feels like I'm pummeling a very purple bruise (sadly I know this from experience). This means that the attempts to reduce the scarring will have to wait for now. They should probably wait anyway because the largest incision isn't quite fully healed yet. The stitches are soluble and the surgeon remove the remnants at my last appointment, however I seem to still have a few bits poking out. I'm hoping that they will just dissolve on their own. If not I'll mention them when I'm back with the surgeon in a few weeks time.
I'm still icing my knee and keeping it elevated as much as possible because it is still quite swollen (though nowhere near as bad as the initial injury, and going down far quicker). I don't really have that swollen fluid/ leaking fluid feeling in my knee anymore, which is nice.
I still haven't received my referral to physiotherapy, however I'm not too bothered by this at the moment because I think I'm fairly limited until the swelling reduces properly anyway. I'm still using a crutch and moving with a pronounced limp. I don't know if the two are connected, but it rained quite heavily yesterday and my knee felt very stiff which made my limp even worse.
To be honest I thought it was going to be much worse. The largest incision (where the graft was taken from the hamstring) is only an inch and a half or there abouts. I had visions of a 15cm line down the middle of my calf.
I still have residue from the dressing on my knee, but my knee and shin are still very tender so I can't do any scrubbing to remove it. I also can't rub any ointment into the skin as it feels like I'm pummeling a very purple bruise (sadly I know this from experience). This means that the attempts to reduce the scarring will have to wait for now. They should probably wait anyway because the largest incision isn't quite fully healed yet. The stitches are soluble and the surgeon remove the remnants at my last appointment, however I seem to still have a few bits poking out. I'm hoping that they will just dissolve on their own. If not I'll mention them when I'm back with the surgeon in a few weeks time.
I'm still icing my knee and keeping it elevated as much as possible because it is still quite swollen (though nowhere near as bad as the initial injury, and going down far quicker). I don't really have that swollen fluid/ leaking fluid feeling in my knee anymore, which is nice.
I still haven't received my referral to physiotherapy, however I'm not too bothered by this at the moment because I think I'm fairly limited until the swelling reduces properly anyway. I'm still using a crutch and moving with a pronounced limp. I don't know if the two are connected, but it rained quite heavily yesterday and my knee felt very stiff which made my limp even worse.
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