title: Characterizing the consequences of chronic climbing-related injury in sport climbers and boulderers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the association between chronic climbing-related injuries and functional and quality-of-life impairments in chronically injured sport climbers and boulderers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective, cross-sectional, anonymous survey was developed to assess the association between chronic climbing-related injuries and severity of injury-related pain, impact on activities of daily living, and impact on continued pursuit of rock climbing and other athletic endeavors. This survey was administered to a convenience sample of chronically injured sport climbers and boulderers recruited from several highly trafficked rock climbing websites.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four hundred thirty-nine respondents submitted surveys adequate for analysis. These respondents reported 863 chronic injuries. A majority of these were in the upper extremity. Approximately half of respondents reported injury-related pain or functional limitation more than 10 days a month, one quarter reported that their pain caused moderate to severe interference with activities of daily living, most altered their climbing habits as a result of their injuries, and one third indicated that their pain moderately or severely affected their ability to pursue other sports.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study is the first to suggest that a subset of chronically injured climbers exists whose injuries may cause significant pain and activities-of-daily-living and sports-related functional limitation.
authors: University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT, USA. alex.folkl@medportal.ca
authors: Alex K
authors: AK
authors: Folkl
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009051:Mountaineering / Q000293:injuries* / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000293:injuries; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult