It's been several months since my last appreciable injury from climbing, so it makes sense that I would hurt myself again. In January 2006 I fell on the corner of a crash pad and broke my ankle, tearing it up quite effectively. In June 2006, only a couple months back climbing after rehab, I rolled it again on the same style of crash pad, giving myself a nice high ankle sprain. Well, this time I didn't hurt myself landing on one of those stupid thick pads (since I refuse to use them). Instead, I've hurt myself in a way not previous expected or imagine. I've either pulled a gluteal muscle, or worse, done something to the hip socket, on the left leg.
So, how did I do it?
Well, it seems local manager Andrew put up a nice new route in the bouldering section with the roof. There's a nice stalactite grab at one point that you need to get out from under the roof to the upper vertical stretch. I made that grab, made my first hold on the vertical (right hand), then bumped up to the next hold, leaving a left hand hold and then top out. My left hand is still on the stalactite at this point. I know, you can't really picture it. Well, anyway, suffice to say the next move is to heel hold on the stalactite (while your left hand is still there), freeing your left hand to then go for the final hold. Ok, so I got that far. However, that last hold was a stretch, essentially requiring a power move, if not an awkward dyno. So, I got my breathing going, focused, and pulled hard with my left leg and right hand, reach for the hold.
As I do this, I hear (and feel!) a crunch in my left hip socket and/or gluteals. Ouch! This distracts me enough that I miss the hold and spin off sideways, landing a little awkward, somewhat torquing my left knee in the process. The landing seems fine, but clearly my left glutes are not doing well. Oh, sigh.
So, I headed home (only about an hour into my climbing) and proceeded to ice, hitting the protein hard and taking an out-of-cycle dose of multivitamin, glucosamine-chondroitin, and B Complex (I've been feeling B deficient since I had food poisoning a couple weeks ago). I iced for about 20 minutes, which really sucked at the end, and only last about 20 minutes after the ice came off. I'm hoping I can sleep adequately, but time will tell. I'll post updates if there's anything of significance.
