Rock Climber Awareness of the A2 Pulley Injury and Associated Safety Practices in Recreational Indoor Bouldering Gyms

An injury to the A2 pulley is the most commonly sustained injury among all climbers, especially in recreational indoor boulderers who repetitively perform strenuous movement with limited safety equipment. The A2 pulley is a ligament in the fingers that supports tendons which allow for finger flexion. Within the climbing community, but across other intense and injury-prone sports as well, various warm-up methods have been suggested as a preventative measure against injury. Although this injury is prevalent, many climbers forgo a proper warm-up and instead begin their climbing session by climbing challenging routes that put them at greater risk of injury. The objective of this study is to determine rock climber awareness of the A2 pulley injury and begin to understand if warm-up or other safety practices intended to reduce finger injury risk are regularly performed by rock climbers in commercial climbing gyms. To explore this, a survey was circulated to climbing gyms across Texas that focused on climbing experience, injury history, awareness, and preventative strategies. A majority of climbers were not sure or unaware of the A2 pulley injury (61%) and a majority choose to warm up (86%), most often resting, stretching, and easy climbing. The outcomes of this study may be used to spread awareness of the A2 pulley injury, encourage climbers to include regular warm-ups in their climbing routine, and contribute to the growing body of scientific literature on the climbing community.

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Health and Human Performance

Grantor

Texas State University

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Rhodes, Xi

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Deringer, Anthony S.

• rock climbing
• A2 pulley
• injury
• bouldering
• gyms

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10877/19340

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.txst.edu:10877/19340