Process Physiotherapy

24/05/2026

With my current wrist injury I can pull hard (for me) on positive holds in a basic style.

It really doesn’t like extension position - undercuts or press ups.

So far so good. I know what I can use and what I should avoid/be thoughtful about for now.

But when I dropped off from high up I used my hands to help absorb impact. A habit I know I do, but it’s a habit so I don’t really think about it.

It hurt enough to change and shorten the rest of my session and took a couple of days to settle.

One thing I often talk about in my workshops are the one minute spaces we need to create where we just think about what we’re going to do before we do it. This ensures we’re not on auto pilot and acting habitually in a way that may not be the right thing at that time.

Just one minute at the start of a session (or after your warm up) and one minute at the end. Review your plan for the session. Is it suitable? At the end review how it went and what that means for the next session.

I’ve recently recorded a podcast with and he’s got a great routine of sitting and taking 20 deep breaths before and after a session. It really helps you tune in to yourself and gives you some thinking time.

These small touch points really can make the difference between being injured or progression.

11/05/2026

Just a quick one to show how everything can be a learning opportunity - if you look at it the right way.

Yes all my skin is falling off after a couple of weeks not climbing due to injury. It’ll come back when I get back on it.

But look at the pattern 👀

I’ve spent a lot of time on Spanish limestone the last few months. Endurance routes with decent holds.

You can see I’ve not been crimping much. Look where the skin has built up, it’s not the tips.

I need to consider that when I get back onto UK limestone this Summer, which is by nature more small edge bias. I am probably not prepped to go hard on this kind of territory, despite feeling like I was going well before my wrist injury.

Don’t mistake that feeling of going well on one type of route as meaning you will be able to translate that over.

But as I’ve just had a TFCC injury on the right wrist I am really interested in what seems to be a back 3 dominance. Both index fingers have little to no callouses.

A point I am going to look address in my rehab and when I get back on the wall.

08/05/2026

Injury forces choices.

Push harder in other areas?
Adapt and train around it?
Or step back and breathe for a bit?

This time, I chose the step back. Walks, runs, rest. No guilt.

I recognised that I had no motivation to adapt and push. So I didn’t fight it. 2 or 3 weeks out isn’t going to affect my multi-decade climbing career much. Don’t stress!

Today the motivation returned on its own and I found myself in the gym — light 1×20 work, wrist‑friendly grips, moving well without forcing anything.

Wrist wraps and cable pulls to avoid overloading the injury and pronation.

Fat grips and parallettes placed back to avoid extension and ulna deviation.

There’s always a way forward.

Sometimes it’s adapting and continuing - make sure you talk to someone who can advise you well around your injury.

Sometimes it’s patience - don’t feel guilty about taking a break.

12/04/2026

I was delighted to be asked to deliver a couple of workshops at the youth camp at last week.

It’s great to see how far the organisation has come recently. Success has to stand on a supportive structure that has clarity and direction across all the levels of comp climbing. We’re getting there 👏

I had a morning with the athletes looking at pre session prep. They didn’t like my suggestion of calling it ‘pre-formance’ 😆

I’m on a mission to try and re frame warming up from being mindless repetition of the same exercises to prevent injury.

If you focus on what prep you need to do to perform well in that session you will cover the injury prevention.

The first rule of Injury Prevention Club is to not talk about Injury Prevention Club.

I don’t think they got the cultural reference 🤣

Putting time and effort into something you won’t know has benefitted you (how do you know the injuries you missed?) is a big ask.

Individualise your sessions and base it on what you’re about to do. A board session prep should be different than a route prep. That’s what proofs you against injury AND helps you perform better.

Can you do one armers without warming up?

Then why are you spending 10 mins at the start of your session doing 3x30 external rotations with a yellow band? That’s too low level. Get hanging and pulling.

Have objective benchmarks so you can assess what’s appropriate for you today and how that fits with your plan.

I was really taken by how aware they were of themselves and their approaches to training. Compared to a couple of years ago they are way ahead of the game.

We are making big steps forwards.

My next post will be about a session I did with the parents/caregivers on information sharing and athlete welfare.

I managed to spend a bit of time with on the wall and bump into too. I had a great day 😊

09/04/2026

It’s amazing how you can forget what’s on your doorstep.

We’re very, very, lucky to have the Lake District so close. But we don’t tend to go there much over Winter.

Great weather, great bread and cake great coffee and savoury snacks (outrageous bhajis) and the climbing is flipping brilliant too.

Two days of bouldering on volcanic tuff = happy soul but no skin left……

We’ve got a sport climbing trip next week, but once that’s over we’ll be getting lots of local trad and bouldering in.

Can’t wait 😊

07/04/2026

I had the great pleasure of taking a strong, young, indoor boulderer for their first outdoor session yesterday.

This handhold drew my attention as they were spending a lot of time trying to make it feel more comfortable.

I’d been on it and thought it was a lovely hold.

They were reluctant to pull on it as it felt very unfamiliar, uncomfortable and as if something in their hand was going to go ‘twang’.

We become what we do.

Indoors holds tend to be more regular and even. Split finger positions are rare. For your hand to feel robust in these positions it has to have spent some time in those positions.

If you come across something that feels new/unusual don’t avoid it; explore it. But don’t just assume you will be able to use it because of the grade.

We had lots of learning together yesterday and they were a tiny amount away from V6 on their first ever outdoor session. First time on Boulder mats, uneven landings, spotting, sit starts, weirdly shaped rock, standing on holds that are smaller than bolt holes. So much to deal with and they did fantastically well.

But all of that new stuff also adds to your injury risk. If you’re getting outside for the first time now the weather is (hopefully) changing I’ve yourself time and space to explore and enjoy. Don’t chase the grades until you’re comfortable and safe.

Further thoughts: why are there no sit-starts indoors anymore? Why does no one spot indoors anymore?

Those are both blanket statements to prompt conversation, i’m aware some do.

05/04/2026

Full video now on my you tube channel.

If you like it please share 🙏

Link in bio and stories/highlights for a one click way to find it.

Warming up does prevent injury. But it’s very hard to appreciate benefits you never see. How do you know about the injuries you didn’t get?

I work with people in the real world where they don’t always have the time, knowledge or discipline to perform a benchmarked off the wall warm up.

These ideas can get you warmed up well, improve your skills AND enable you to stay on the wall with your friends.

This video gives you some ideas of how to think about what to do (which only takes seconds) and then some suggested drills and ideas which will warm you up AND improve your climbing skills. If you start doing this I bet your friends start to copy you.

Adapt to what your aim is for the day, but apply the principles:

Start easy
Take small steps
Finish your warm up trying as hard as your project level
Get some fall practice in

15/03/2026

This post was inspired by a patient who is neurodiverse and really struggles with organisation and routine.

Tweaks and injuries were just not responding to rehab. This was due to them being exhausted most of the time and eating on the go with fast food, when they remembered to eat; which wasn’t often.

This picture of their food drawer was one of the biggest ‘YES!’ moments I’ve had in recent times.

Over a few weeks we had built new structures. We removed barriers and made making higher quality decisions easier.

Research shows that much of our decision making is not about willpower. It’s about structure. The right structure (such as a kitchen drawer full of food that is full of quick to prepare food that is way better than take away) leads to more positive habits as it becomes easy. It’s about reducing friction, not trying harder.

Ease of choice builds consistency and with consistency comes improvement, in rehab and training.

You won’t heal, or get stronger, if you don’t have consistent, sustainable, habits around the basics. The basics are getting enough sleep and energy in to support what you want to do.

If you’re struggling with this it’s not because you’re too weak willed. It’s because you don’t have the structures.

Think about what gets in the way of good quality sleep and nutrition and what you can practically do to improve this.

It can be as simple as having a repeating online food order that guarantees you will have easy to prep, supportive, food choices in your kitchen drawer.

Get the basics in place before you start training@and if you’re struggling find a physio/trainer who can help you with lifestyle factors, not just sets and reps.

13/03/2026

02/03/2026

Second try for this reel with now non-racist captions - thanks Instagram 🙄

If you’re carrying a bit of a ni**le in your finger when you warm up you need to isolate it for two reasons.

1 - To see how it is and inform your choices for that session

2 - To recruit it fully so it can look after itself better

It’s very common for me to see two hands that can pull the same amount. But if you isolate the injured finger and compare it to the other side they can often be 50% different.

A 4 finger pull can’t be relied upon to tell you the truth.

The body is fantastic at working around and protecting things. That can be great, but there comes a time when we need to isolate and work the finger on its own.

By testing and recruiting it like this you get a much better picture of how it actually is before you climb. You don’t want to end up on a two finger pocket way above your last bolt /gear and suddenly discover it doesn’t like that.

Warm up well first and then isolate it in open, half crimp and crimp (if you think you’re going to use those grips on your climb).

I’d recommend giving it a little boost/test before each climb too

As ever if you’re not sure get it checked out by your trusted medical provider - not all finger injuries are pulley injuries but even if it is they need a proper rehab, not just rest until it doesn’t hurt anymore.