London, Ontario has an impressive indoor facility at The Junction Climbing Centre. Some of our Physiohaus clinicians spend time there with their families and enjoy the access to excellent indoor climbing and bouldering.

While traumatic injuries such as falls do occur, the majority of climbing injuries are due to the repetitive movement patterns and muscle use that climbing involves.

During a climb, the body works in harmony to hold and move the climber. While the lower body is designed to support weight, the upper body is not. When climbing, the upper body is pushed to it’s limits and must hold almost all of the body’s weight. It isn't a surprise to learn that most climbing injuries are in the upper extremities.

Clinicians at Physiohaus can diagnose your injury, and determine contributing factors that made you more likely to have your particular injury. We can give you direction on exercises to do at home along with information on how to improve your training regime and prevent further injuries. Our Physiotherapists and Chiropractor have dry needling, intramuscular stimulation (IMS) and acupuncture certification. We find that a combination of manual therapy and other modalities optimizes recovery and return to climbing.

Climbing Injuries

Muscles and joints have evolved to work with synchronicity and precision. To place the hand on a ledge the spine, scapula, shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand must all work together. This is called a kinetic chain.

When movement is restricted in any area, changes in the kinetic chain begin to happen. This means that the actions in the muscles start an altered chain, involving muscles that are not suitable for the job. As this altered kinetic chain happens repetitively, abnormal stress in the tissues increases. The muscles become over used, over worked and painful. This will not only affect your climbing performance but will cause tissue overload and injury.

How Can Physiotherapy, Chiropractic and Massage Therapy Help Climbing Injuries?

At Physiohaus, we perform a detailed assessment of your body and your kinetic chain. This will allow us to understand why you’re getting pain. Once we’ve discovered the underlying cause of your pain, we can advise you on how to prevent further injury and begin treatment. Treatment may involve soft tissue therapy, manual therapy, taping and acupuncture. After a treatment plan, you will not only be able to go back to climbing pain free, but you can return with an improved and more efficient technique.