The Association of Finger Growth Plate Injury History and Speed Climbing in Youth Competition Climbers

Abstract

Finger growth plate injuries are the most common injury among youth climbers, and the association between these injuries and speed climbing, a mandatory discipline in the 2021 Olympics, has not been examined previously. Our primary purpose was to examine the demographic and training characteristics of adolescent competition climbers who reported a history of a finger growth plate injury compared to those who did not report a history of a finger growth plate injury. Our secondary purpose was to determine whether training characteristics differed between adolescent competition climbers who did and did not report speed climbing. Our study was a cross-sectional study design. We surveyed adolescent climbers who competed in the 2017 USA Climbing Sport and Speed Youth National Championships. Questions assessed climbing injury history and current rock-climbing training characteristics. Two-hundred sixty-seven adolescent competition climbers, 14±3 (9-18) y of age (mean±SD with range), completed the survey. Those with a history of a finger growth plate injury reported greater approximate time spent speed climbing throughout the year (β=1.28, 95% CI 0.11-2.46, P=0.032) and training regularly on the International Federation of Sport Climbing speed wall (adjusted odds ratio=3.95, 95% CI 1.14-13.7, P=0.031). Training regularly at practices on the speed wall was associated with a self-reported history of finger growth plate injuries among elite youth competition climbers. Speed climbing should be limited, especially during periods of rapid growth.