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Topic Date User

Complete rupture of A2 pulley 30-May-2011 At 9:09:19 AM davepalethorpe

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Tendon ruptures do require quick surgical re-attachment, as they retract and will not reattach themselves to the bone. A pulley is not a vital attachment point for a tendon, it just assists in keeping the tendon close to the bone, preventing it from bowstringing. There are multiple pulley structures in a finger, so rupturing only one is not a major problem. In fact there are studies proving that climbers return to full function, AND STRENGTH, within one year of single pulley rupture.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=Sch%C3%B6ffl%20VR%5Bau%5D&dispmax=50

VR Schoffl is a german orthopaedic surgeon, who has done extensive research into finger injuries in climbers. I have another journal article on finger injuries in rock climbers, but cannot find the pdf link on google. If anyone is interested, please pm me your email address and I will forward it on. It includes a nice table on managing differing grades of pulley injuries.

The problem with pulley injuries is that they very rarely happen outside rock climbing, and therefore even specialist hand surgeons may not have much experience in treating them.

Re: Kieranl "Why is it that no-one has asked for evidence for the proposed treatments people have been offering until surgery is mentioned?"

It is because surgical intervention is quite radical, and inappropriate. There is plenty of evidence for conservative treatment (both research based, and anecdotal...ask just about any professional level climber!). If you like, PM me your email address, and I will forward you a few papers on conservative management!