Injuries are an unfortunate reality in climbing.   If you are consistently trying to improve and push your level, chances are you’ve dealt with an injury or two before.  However, while not all injuries are completely avoidable, many climbing injuries are actually overuse injuries that can and should be prevented.

To help you do so, here’s an article by Dr. Jared Vagy, The Climbing Doctor, from the REI Blog in which he outlines five strategies for preventing climbing injuries before they happen.

“With the number of climbers at nine million and growing, overuse injuries are occurring at an alarming rate. It’s always better to prevent injury than to deal with the painful consequences. That’s why if you’re a climber, learning these five concepts of prevention can help you climb injury free.” – Dr. Jared Vagy

Dr. Vagy’s Tips for Preventing Climbing Injuries:

Dr. Vagy’s tips range from injury prevention exercises and stretches to suggestions about technique and proper movement patterns.  Here are his five tips and some concrete ways you can focus on incorporating them into you climbing and training: 

• Have a daily prevention program
  • Perform static stretches
  • Perform antagonist exercises
• Warmup properly
  • Perform dynamic stretches before climbing
• Train like you climb
  • Engage in mirror movement
• Be mindful of your movement
  • Learn correct climbing technique
• Listen to your body
  • Allow adequate recovery time

Click through below to read the complete article where all these tips and how to impliment them are discussed in greater detail.

More Injury Prevention Information:

Then, if you are interested in learning more about injury prevention, check out our Injury Prevention Guide by Dr. Vagy.  In it, he arms you with the knowledge you’ll need to stop climbing injuries of all kinds before they happen.  As he says above, it’s always better to prevent an injury rather than try and rehab one once its too late.

Full Article: 5 Tips for Preventing Climbing Injuries

(photo courtesy of blog.rei.com)

Other Articles You Might Like:

• Forearm Stretches – The Self Coached Climber
• Making Exercises More Climbing Specific
• Injury-Free Movement for Rock Climbers
• TBP 014 :: Physical Therapist Jared Vagy on Injury Prevention and Treatment