Be Careful What You (Sort Of) Wish For

Be Careful What You (Sort Of) Wish For

As climbers we spend most of our time concerned about avoiding injuries to our precious upper body extremities, most obviously our hands.  Injuries to seemingly non-essential climbing tools like our legs are usually not at the forefront of our minds.  In fact, last year I often argued with Mrs. Narc that I would MUCH rather have a leg injury than an arm injury.  I was pretty emphatic about it really.  This was at the time that she was spending 6 weeks on the couch with a broken ankle so she was nonplussed to say the least.  After the events of last week in Rocktown, I’m starting to come around to her point.

Concerned with getting the most mileage out of my injured finger and non-existent skin, I didn’t do much warming up at the beginning of a day of climbing at Rocktown.  I spent a few minutes doing jumping jacks to stay warm while the rest of the crew worked The Orb, and when we moved to the Sherman Photo roof I got right down to business.

Sticking the last move on Nose Candy

Problem one, Nose Candy, went down in short order and I moved 5 feet to the right to try Sherman Photo Roof.  Sherman Photo starts on a large jug and moves to two pretty poor crimps on a roof.  The key (for me) to using these crimps is a really good heel hook on the starting jug.  I was actually surprised how good the heel hook was and I nearly flashed the problem.

Feeling pretty pumped (the good kind), I pulled on for a second go.  Pull on the start hold, reach up left to 1st miserable crimp, right foot lodged firmly behind the start hold, pull like hell with my right leg and then…POP…POP.  As I collapsed on the pad the rest of the crew ran for cover as they thought we were taking enemy gunfire.  Well, not really, but they were a bit confused as to where this noise had come from.

Unfortunately, the noise came from my knee, and I spent the rest of the trip hobbling around looking for problems that didn’t require much use of the right leg (there are quite a few actually).  Back home I was resistant to the idea of seeking medical attention due to my propping up the entire health care industry in 2008 with my frequent trips to the Doctor.  However, I finally succumbed and sought help in the form of an MRI for which the results are still pending.  Apparently I might have torn my meniscus a disruption to my LCL, but I remain stubbornly optimistic.

The moral of the story is that despite the amount of time we dedicate to keeping our precious fingers, elbows and shoulders in tact it is just as important to make sure the rest of our bodies don’t fall apart either.  It’s not that hard to drive to your job that pays for your climbing trips with a blown tendon, but a busted up leg is another story.

To drive home this point, here is a great video I came across from Jason Kehl.  It’s from a 2003 PCA comp in Salt Lake City, UT where he tears his ACL dismounting from a problem but perseveres to finish the comp.  Unfortunately it looks like Kehl is still having problems even 6 years later!


This is what happen to me… from Cryptochild on Vimeo.

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16 Responses to Be Careful What You (Sort Of) Wish For

  1. nicros March 27, 2009 at 8:28 am #

    your goal (if boot of doom returns) should be to do a double body weight pull up.

    you+you+pull up= goal

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  2. sweatpants March 27, 2009 at 8:49 am #

    ive got my fingers crossed for you homie!

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  3. Julian March 27, 2009 at 9:30 am #

    No. Not cool. I call shenanigans on life.

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  4. Matt C March 27, 2009 at 9:37 am #

    The most serious climbing injury I have had was to my right knee due to heel hooking. I’ve torn pulleys in my fingers and given them some time to heal with no recurring issues, however, my knee injury still bothers me 2 years later. I did all of my PT saw doctors, did what they said, and i still feel the effects of that injury almost every day. On a brighter note, it does not effect my climbing any more, and dos not hurt, just something I feel in my knee that’s still not quite right.

    Moral of the story….strengthen your hamstrings…most climbers hamstrings are grossly underdeveloped for the types of pulling we do with our legs/knees.

    I wish you the best in your recovery narc!

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    • Narc March 27, 2009 at 10:30 am #

      Good advice. Apparently living a completely sedentary lifestyle outside of walking to and from roadside boulders is not a good way to stay in shape.

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  5. greg March 27, 2009 at 10:28 am #

    hey brian its greg hope your doing better and good luck with the healing! stay positive!

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  6. PAUL March 27, 2009 at 10:50 am #

    good luck on your recovery narc!

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  7. sock hands March 27, 2009 at 11:50 am #

    just saw this. uggh. first time i blew my acl was trainging before a mogul comp. thought i had just tweaked something… after ten weeks of limping, i finally went in to the doctor an learned that my acl was fully blown and that the meniscus had flappers. ugggh. i definitely understand your frustration here… i never had mine reconstructed… doctors wanted me to wait until i was older [now-ish] and they just cut out all the loose frayed flapping bits. i still have issues with my knees [partially blew my LCL in the left, as well] and it affects the way i approach every boulder problem… especially with my penchant for heel hooking… however, there is certainly life after a major knee injury and though you will not walk very well after a trip to upper chaos, you should be able to rally and crush. the good first step is that you had it looked at sooner than later. if you do need flapper bits cut out, it will avoid having your knee stick, grind, and generally foul up when using it for radness purposes. though it’s scary to lose a bunch of cushion between your bones, it really does suck to have loose material in there and is worth the short recovery time necessary for just a clean-out scoping…. reconstruction is another matter entirely, however.

    god speed, son.

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    • Narc March 27, 2009 at 11:58 am #

      I’ve found that heel hooking is a good coping mechanism for my lack of power due to never being able to train due to constant finger injuries. 1 problem leads to another…

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  8. Narc March 27, 2009 at 12:05 pm #

    The one bit of good news is that it doesn’t really hurt all that much. I am walking almost entirely limp free at this point.

    I’m hoping that this is a sign that the injury is minor and not a sign that something worse is festering under the surface.

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  9. peter beal March 27, 2009 at 4:45 pm #

    Hamstrings are tricky and generally anything that pops means something worse is festering, even if it feels better. I tweaked a hamstring and it was easily two months before it seemed solid. Take care out there!

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  10. Chris Eggbert March 27, 2009 at 9:24 pm #

    Heal quick man, your trifecta is waiting!

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  11. tissue March 28, 2009 at 3:32 pm #

    /virtual cortisone shot

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  12. tim March 29, 2009 at 9:56 pm #

    im digging your new site design. looks great!

    funny you’d bring this up though. after that disaster last year on jedi mind tricks, i had plenty of time to think about things.. and i reached the conclusion that i’d FAR rather break an arm than a foot.

    sure.. both injuries will knock you out of climbing for a while.. but while recovering, you can pretty much cope with various daily stuff okay with one good arm… having only one good foot changes the game completely!

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    • Narc March 30, 2009 at 7:38 am #

      I think as climbers we sometimes forget that there is more to life than pulling ourselves up with our arms. Turns out your legs are far more important.

      Glad you like the new design, I hope that your foot is healing well!

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  13. Sara May 7, 2012 at 12:30 am #

    Hey, how did this turn out for you? I just today had my knee pop while heel hooking on the problem Chocolate Bunny at Yosemite. I’m limping a bit and it’s kinda painful. I can bend it fully just fine. I’m pretty nervous about it 🙁

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