Rope climbing was once a competitive sport and featured in the 1896 Olympic games. Climbing ropes also is common in many branches of the armed forces. Used to develop upper body strength and confidence working at heights, a rope can be climbed by using arms and legs together or, for a more challenging upper body workout, the arms alone. Rope climbing is an effective exercise but is not without long- and short-term risks.
Hand Injuries
Your hands must work very hard to support your body weight when climbing a rope, and the small muscles, ligaments and tendons are all prone to suffering an acute injury as a result of gripping a climbing rope. In the long term, the grasping motion required to pull your body up a rope might result in carpal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tunnel syndrome in the inflammation of the synovial sheath that surrounds the tendons in your wrist and commonly is associated with repetitive and strenuous gripping movements. In addition, if you slip down the rope as a result of losing your grip or descending too fast, you might get a friction burn or develop blisters.
Elbow Injuries
The main muscle involved in bending your elbow as you climb a rope is your biceps brachii, or biceps for short. The biceps muscle is quite big and strong but is still prone to injury. A very severe biceps injury can result in the tendon of the biceps breaking free of its attachment point on the radius bone in your forearm. In addition, the tendon that attaches your biceps to your radius can become inflamed in a condition called biceps tendonitis. Inflammation of the inside of the elbow is called golfer's elbow and inflammation of the outside of the elbow is called tennis elbow. Despite their names, you can develop these conditions by rope climbing.
Shoulder Injuries
Your shoulder joint is a very mobile articulation capable of a wide range of movement, but this mobility comes at the cost of joint stability and strength. The action of reaching overhead and pulling your body up a climbing rope places great stress on the shoulder joint. The acromioclavicular, or AC, joint is particularly at risk of injury. The primary pulling muscle that crosses the shoulder is the latissimus dorsi. Running from your arm and down your sides to your mid/lower back, this large and powerful muscle provides a lot of the strength necessary to climb a rope but, despite its size and strength, can still suffer injury if overexerted or overstretched.
Back and Leg Injuries
Once you have reached the top of the climbing rope, use a hand-over-hand motion to descend to the ground. Lowering yourself slowly minimizes your risk of landing badly and suffering injury to your back or legs. Hitting the ground with too much velocity could cause a spinal compression injury or hurt your knees, hips, ankles or feet. A big fall could even result in leg, back, neck or skull fractures. To minimize the potential for injury, consider placing a thick crash mat at the bottom of the rope. Climb no higher than the point from which you can safely descend and grip the rope with your legs to control the speed of your descent and minimize your chances of falling. At the very least, descending a rope too fast will result in painful friction burns to your hands.
References
- "Combat Conditioning, Functional Exercises for Fitness and Combat Sports" Matt Furey; 2005
- "Never Gymless : An Excuse-free System for Total Fitness" Ross Enamait; 2006
- "Sports Injuries: A Self-help Guide"; Vivian Grisogono; 1989
- "Sports Injuries: Their Prevention and Treatment - 3rd Edition"; Lars Peterson and Per Renström; 2000
Member Comments