Can / Can't

Things you CAN do whilst recovering from a torn MCL:

• Fingerboarding
• Campussing
• Intense upper body work
• Intense low-level traversing
• Systems board training without going too high

Things you CAN do whilst recovering from golfer's elbow:

• Hard slabs / vertical walls
• Thrutchy routes with a focus on legwork
• Run-out routes with good fall potential
• Falling practise in general
• Running and similar lower-limb fitness

Things you CAN'T do whilst recovering from golfer's elbow:

• Fingerboarding
• Campussing
• Intense upper body work
• Intense low-level traversing
• Systems board training without going too high

Things you CAN'T do whilst recovering from a torn MCL:

• Hard slabs / vertical walls
• Thrutchy routes with a focus on legwork
• Run-out routes with good fall potential
• Falling practise in general
• Running and similar lower-limb fitness

Hmmmm.....

So yeah I was heeding the DMac advice "If you come out of a lower limb injury without getting stronger, then it's been a wasted opportunity" (more like "If you come out of a lower limb injury without sinking into a pit of slothful, comfort eating, nihilistic depression.....then well done" - I think the first quote was in the era when DMac wrongly assumed that all other climbers, irrespective of grade, had his robotic dedication to training and militant self-discipline). At any rate I was motivated to try to maintain some of the strength and fitness that I'd clawed back since the end of lockdown, and thus jumped straight on the fingerboard a couple of days after fucking my knee.....after a sluggish day doing fuck all, and with the barest minimum of warming up. I tweaked my elbow a bit. Then climbed the next day. Then went to the gym the day after and tweaked it further on elbow intensive stuff. At the time of the last post I hadn't realised....but yes I fucked it too. 

Depending on the circumstances, the elbow is more of an inhibition than the knee. On the Depot circuit boards with their convenient matrix of footholds, I've managed to carefully front-point and inside edge my way along the lowest level without any knee pain.....but increasing and subsequent elbow pain as I ramped up the difficulty. Same with Awesome Walls with the vertical lead wall of endless controlled rockovers (fine) and deep locks (less fine). On the other hand, after walking on flat ground, uneven ground, uphill, downhill, upstairs and downstairs (the latter at a distinctly normal pace compared to a week ago) all without pain, I tried a light jog the other day and lasted 1 (one) step before a sharp pain stopped me, and now my knee has felt the worst it has since the first tweak.

So whilst last time when I had tennis elbow, I could do some cool slabs and highballing and running and stuff, and last time when I mashed my leg I could do plenty of deadhanging and campussing (which I did feel progress with) and weights, this time I'm not sure what the fuck to do (apart from burying my head in the sand and pretending it isn't Sendtember because that ain't fucking happening). What I am doing is antagonistic weights and stretching, and, errr, a fuckload of rehab from wobbleboarding and eccentrics to light gym work on the leg etc etc. And hope to get one of the limbs healed up enough to go on some adventurous sea-cliffs before winter....