I'm feeling pretty strong, the insignificant tweaky fall from February isn't even on my radar. Im on the starting holds of a dead horizontal v7. The right hand is fully twisted in a gaston and pushing away from my body. I hear a pop and some sharp pain in the hamate region. I went on to finish the climb, but this time the pain did not go away so quickly. My first thought was that I must have sprained some minor ligaments. I figured it would go away with some rest and light climbing.
My advice from here - If you feel ANY pain that lasts more then a day in the Hamate region, go get an x-ray. Again, the sooner the better with this thing.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
February 28th, 2012
When on a short weekend climbing trip to a new boulder field, I had a tweaky fall. On a right leaning, 20 degree overhanging v4 arete, I reach the "apex" with my right hand. It was a "ham hock" grip, think grabbing the top of a large triangle with your fingers facing away from you and all of your weight on, you guessed it, the Hamate region. The arete came to a sharp point, but was also very slopey, so I had a left heel on to keep me nice and tight on that right hand. My heel slipped. I tried to hold the swing with just my right hand, but as my body swung right and my right hand stayed in that ham hock position - ouch.. I let go. I quickly did the climb second try. At the time I didn't notice much lingering pain. It was the beginning of my day and I went on to send half a dozen harder things.
It actually took me a while to pinpoint this as the start of my injury, it is to the best of my knowledge when the initial fracture occurred.
My advice from here: If you think you may have broken something in your Hamate region, just go get an x-ray. If you discover the fracture within the first week you have a really good chance of the Hamate Hook reattaching by itself by spending only a few weeks in a cast. You DO NOT want to wait, the longer you wait, the worse your odds get for a proper heal.
It actually took me a while to pinpoint this as the start of my injury, it is to the best of my knowledge when the initial fracture occurred.
My advice from here: If you think you may have broken something in your Hamate region, just go get an x-ray. If you discover the fracture within the first week you have a really good chance of the Hamate Hook reattaching by itself by spending only a few weeks in a cast. You DO NOT want to wait, the longer you wait, the worse your odds get for a proper heal.
What is the Hook of Hamate?
The Hook of the Hamate is a small extension of the hamate bone that helps protect the Carpal Tunnel. It also has quite a few (but mostly insignificant) ligaments attached to it.
They say professional baseball players get this all the time, and that they can return to full grip strength in about 6 weeks..
But what about rock climbers? Well it just so happens I am both a rock climber and a recent victim of a hamate hook fracture! For all intensive purposes I can remain anonymous. I am going to record my experience to let my fellow climbers out there know what to expect if this ever happens to you. Brief personal climbing history - almost 5 years, sport @ 5.13a, boulder @ V9, but suck in the gym. Thats right, we're not asking, "oh how will my hamate hook fracture affect me when I am hiking 3 miles up a snow covered hill???", we're talking about hard technical actual rock climbing. So lets go back to the beginning.
But what about rock climbers? Well it just so happens I am both a rock climber and a recent victim of a hamate hook fracture! For all intensive purposes I can remain anonymous. I am going to record my experience to let my fellow climbers out there know what to expect if this ever happens to you. Brief personal climbing history - almost 5 years, sport @ 5.13a, boulder @ V9, but suck in the gym. Thats right, we're not asking, "oh how will my hamate hook fracture affect me when I am hiking 3 miles up a snow covered hill???", we're talking about hard technical actual rock climbing. So lets go back to the beginning.
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