Returning to Climbing After an Injury: Do’s and Don’ts

Getting injured while climbing is a very common thing for all types of climbers. You can be a novice climber or a pro at climbing but there will be a point of time where you will get injured. So today, we have decided to tell you about, what are the dos and don’ts which you have to follow after you return to climbing after being injured.

After you’ve been injured, what should you do before restarting your climbing? Whenever you return to climbing after being injured, you should not push yourself too hard. Make sure you stretch your muscles before you start climbing again. Slowly climbing, with a primary focus on technique, without jerky movements or dynamic changes in direction, is the key. Keep yourself warm between climbs and after. Water is very important for keeping your body flexible and strong when you are training. Whenever you feel like your usual grade is affecting your injury too much, climb lower grades. Your ego shouldn’t affect you – if your injury returns because you can’t handle a lower grade because of your ego, how does that benefit you? It is best instead to climb two grades below your current grade as technically as possible to improve your overall ability.If you want a complete list of the do’s and don’ts for returning to climbing after an injury, then keep reading.

Do’s

Stretching and warming up/warming down are important for your muscles

Getting your muscles warm before you climb or take part in any physical activity that requires a lot of exertion will prevent new injuries and reinjure old ones. Your body is more supple and ready to exercise when it’s warm. Increasing the temperature of your body and blood circulation is beneficial to exercising. It will prepare your muscles for physical activity if you stretch them beforehand. Before beginning a workout, you should warm up and stretch your muscles for around 10-20 minutes. At the end of each session, it is crucial to warm down in the same manner to avoid muscular and joint stiffness.

Climb as slowly as you can

Trying to power through your climbing session at warp speed is one of the worst things you can do when recovering from an injury. Give yourself at least one minute of rest between each climb. You can listen to how each part of your body feels as you climb the climbing wall by climbing slower. It will be clear if you should or should not attempt a transition or move because it may affect your old injury.

Keep Yourself Warm During Your Session

Stretching and warming up help keep your body supple and increase blood flow to your muscles so that you do not suffer new injuries. In case of prolonged rest, the body may become cold, resulting in a higher risk of injury. That doesn’t mean you have to always be on the climbing wall – you just need to keep moving and stretching to keep the blood flowing and your body temperature up.Your Injury May Prevent You From Climbing Your Usual Grade, so Climb Lower Grades

Climbing lower grades isn’t a bad thing if your injury prevents you from climbing your usual grade. You can focus on your rock climbing technique while avoiding movements that might cause you injury. Most advanced climbers climb lower grades to improve their weaknesses – it’s an excellent way to improve your technical ability.

Don’ts

Don’t push yourself too hard

When you get on the wall, you may feel like you’re ready to tackle numerous climbs on your level, but this may not be true. There may be times when you can climb for two to three hours, pushing your muscles to their limits, only to discover the next day that you have re-injured the injury that required rest in the first place. Take it easy the first few times you return to climbing – let your body get used to climbing again.

Jerky movements or dynamic movements (Dynos) aren’t acceptable

Regardless of where your injury is, you won’t be surprised that not using dynamic and jerky movements is on the list of do’s and don’ts. If you pull your muscles or fall on your old injury, you can reinjure yourself at dynos. This type of activity should not be attempted until you are confident that you won’t re-injure yourself.

Drink plenty of water

You can keep your muscles supple and strong by staying hydrated throughout your workout. There is a huge underestimation of how much drinking water can actually prevent injuries from happening or recurring. Drinking every 5 or 10 minutes while climbing is so easy, you really don’t have an excuse.

Don’t let your ego get in the way

You don’t have to do something because you think you can, or because you want to. You may be doomed by your ego when it comes to your old injury. 

Make sure you plan your session to prevent re-injury

In case you know that certain types of climbs are going to adversely affect your old injury, you may want to avoid those climbs and stick to the routes you’re comfortable with. You can also plan your session in advance if you know the layout of the climbs, even adding lower grades if necessary. Prepare your warm up beforehand, plan the climbs you will attempt (if you can), and prepare your warm down at the end of the session to avoid as much soreness and stiffness the following day.

Goals should be adjusted based on your injury severity

When you were injured, you may have set goals you thought you could achieve, but now that you are recovering, it may take you much longer to achieve the goal you previously set. It may not be possible to achieve it in the long run, but you might have to introduce smaller goals before you can move on to the next one. It depends on the size of the goal prior to getting injured, and the severity of the injuries themselves.

Imagine this: Before your injury, you were an intermediate climber with a goal of reaching V5 within a year. Normally, that’s quite achievable for the average human with some hard work behind him; but after your injury you’ve lost some strength in that area, so it’s a bit more difficult than you expected. If the achievement is below V4 within eight months, you can lower it. The improvement is still significant, but it leaves you with a little more time to lower your goals. When healthy, it should take less than 8 months to achieve V4 if you’re aiming for V5 in 12 months. Now that you’ve recovered from your injury, this may be a more realistic objective. In order to keep your morale high after an injury, you must feel a sense of achievement quickly

It’s Very Important to Be Flexible

It’s becoming more common knowledge that maintaining flexibility outside of training can help you avoid injuries. These days, you can stretch at home easily by watching a yoga video on YouTube and following the instructions. While stretching at home while watching TV can improve flexibility, I would highly recommend researching which stretches are safe and which aren’t before you start.

Ensure you are back on the climbing wall

When you’re returning to climbing after an injury, your mental attitude has a huge impact on your performance. You’ll probably have a fun time even if you haven’t climbed in a while, and your mind will be open enough to work around your weakness if you are confident that you can climb well. When climbing, what good does it do to be cynical? No matter how much your injury flares up, understand that it’s too early to return and focus on your rehab until next time.

How to prepare for your return to climbing

In order to climb again after an injury, you may want to strengthen the muscles and joints surrounding the injured area, become more flexible, or determine whether the injury is ready to be trained on.

If you are strengthening a part of your body after an injury, you should begin with a light load or weight, gradually stepping up the load as your muscles gain strength. You can also use yoga to keep your muscles and joints flexible while strengthening before you return to rock climbing.

As you are recovering from an injury and it looks like you might be out for a while but want to resume climbing, make sure you stay strong in certain areas like fingers and forearms (if you’re not injured there) so that you won’t be disadvantaged when you return. By using the fingerboard or doing pull-ups for your back muscles, you will be able to climb better when you return.

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