Take Hold Physiotherapy

03/09/2026

Couldn’t be more grateful to the whole Depot team for looking after me the last few weeks and making sure I can keep it going 🙏

20/08/2026

RED-S IN CLIMBERS

You don’t have to be underweight.
You don’t have to be an elite athlete.

RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport) happens when the body isn’t getting enough energy to support both training AND all of its normal physiological functions.

It affects male and female climbers.

🚩 What might it look like in climbers?

Performance
• Plateauing or declining performance
• Feeling unusually fatigued during sessions
• Poor recovery between climbing days
• Reduced strength or power
• Struggling to maintain training intensity

Injury & health
• Recurrent injuries or niggles
• Bone stress injuries / fractures
• More frequent illness
• Feeling cold all the time
• Poor sleep
• Mood changes or irritability

Female climbers
• Irregular or absent periods
• Changes in cycle length
• Reduced libido

Male climbers
• Reduced libido
• Lower morning erections
• Potential reductions in testosterone

In climbers, the desire to stay light for performance can lead to under-fuelling.

Understanding the risk factors and recognising the impact on long term health is imperative, and we should be promoting improvements in nutrition and strength over chronic under fuelling.

29/11/2025

I’ve had a fantastic couple of days at the 2025 joint scientific meeting for the British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH) and the British Association of Hand Therapists (BAHT).
I was honoured to be asked to present a case study on surgical management of spasticity in the upper limb, which is one of several areas that I specialise in as part of my NHS role.
It’s good to take yourself out of your comfort zone every once in a while!

21/08/2025

07/08/2025

The wrist is made up of 8 carpal bones and a large number of ligaments that’s job is to keep the joints stable. Many of the muscles that move the fingers and wrist also help to stabilise the wrist joint.
Slopers require the wrist to be in flexion. In this position, the carpals are less congruent and it is harder for the wrist extensors to co-contract to provide stability. For some people, for example those with more laxity in their ligaments, or previous injury, this position may be uncomfortable or give the sensation of gapping.
Improving the strength and stability of the wrist dynamic stabilisers may help to improve symptoms.

Always see a medical professional if you have concerns about your symptoms!

18/07/2025

Dupuytren’s contracture is a disorder of the palmar fascia, which starts with thickening/ nodules in the palm, and can progress to flexion contracture of the digit/s.
Its etiology isn’t fully understood, but risk factors are family history of the condition, s*x (80% male below age 40, 1:1 by age 80) age and ethnicity.
Environmental factors are also thought to be associated with the condition in some cases, such as smoking, alcohol intake, and micro-trauma to the hand.

Although the disease generally starts at a later age in females and progresses more slowly than in males, women are more likely to suffer with pain and inflammation in the early stages.

In a study looking at Dupuytren’s disease in climbers, it found that 19.5% of climbers questioned had developed Dupuytren’s disease, considerably higher than in a non-climbing population (around 8%), suggesting that the microtrauma of climbing could increase lifetime risk.
Interestingly, the respondents were almost entirely male, which still leaves the question as to whether the female climbing population are more at risk of the Dupuytren’s contracture than in the non-climbing population, and to what degree/ severity remains unknown.

Pictured: early Dupuytren’s nodules in two female climbers hands.

02/07/2025

It’s been a busy few months work wise and personally. On 23rd May I became Helen Lister and I’m now signing off for the next two Thursdays to enjoy our honey moon 🌙
As always, email or message me and I’ll get back in touch when I can, or alternatively book direct through my website www.takeholdphysio.co.uk

03/04/2025

The lumbrical muscles in the palm can be injured in climbers when pulling on pockets, when one finger is dropped while the other is in the pocket (see previous post on this).
With an injury in the palm significant enough to cause swelling or bruising, this can cause compression within the carpal tunnel and onto the median nerve which runs through it, in this case, causing pins and needles and reduced sensation into the thumb, index and middle fingers (median nerve distribution).
In some people, anatomically when making a tight fist, the lumbricals can course into the carpal tunnel, reducing the space further and making symptoms worse.

This could explain the reason for the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome after a lumbrical injury.

25/01/2025

Finger/hand pain can often last much longer than we expect when we consider normal soft tissue healing timescales.
Our hands are so important to us for our climbing, and thereby also our mental and physical health. Not only that, but most of us rely on them for work/income, as well as for communicating, and for human interaction.
Our hands are constantly in our field of vision and this is a constant reminder of pain.
An exacerbated sense of worry around time off can worsen the pain itself and lengthen our recovery.
Part of your recovery should include recognising these factors and making you feel confident again.

06/01/2025

Highlights for the year:

- Helping out and working with the Hand Therapy team at Airedale hospital
- Visiting the Swiss paraplegic centre, learning about upper limb reconstruction in tetraplegia
- Winning ‘Best Abstract’ and presenting our service development project at the Leeds Research and Innovation conference
- Being involved in monthly special interest groups online with climbing physios from around the world
- Moving to my new Pudsey home 🏠

Onto even more in 2025!