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Injury Prevention
Home » Climbing » Training for a Climb » Injury PreventionThe best injury prevention as you're training for a climb is to be practical about what your body can currently handle. Work your way up to a rigorous climbing or other training routine.
Stretch and warm up before you climb or start any other kind of training for climbing. You want your body to be limber and warm before you start a difficult climb -- jog in circles and do a few push-ups, or do some easy climbing before you start a really difficult route. Stretch your hands, fingers and shoulders, especially. Flexibility can help prevent pulled muscles and tendons in every part of your body; and the more flexible your lower body is, the more you will be able to use your leg muscles as you're climbing, which drastically improves your endurance.
The most common injuries rock climbers encounter are strains to the elbows and fingers, usually involving tendonitis. Prevention of these types of injuries can be as simple as pacing your training, and warming up your fingers and arms before you work out or climb. Take tendonitis seriously as soon as it appears, by resting, icing, and in some cases taking an anti-inflammatory medicine like naproxen or ibuprofen. The sooner you deal with the problem, the less likely it will end up slowing you down in the long run. Train hard, and take good care of your body -- and Granite Mountain, here you come!
Resources:
Long, John. How to Rock Climb! Evergreen, CO: Chockstone Press, 1993.
www.rockclimbing.com
www.climbnashville.com
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