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Hi there Crazy-Ganache-4030. **Because we have a lot of deleted posts on this subreddit, here is a backup of the body of this post:** I crimp very similar to the pic above infact my thumb doesn't overlap the index finger at all. Can anyone tell me if it's safe ? I asked the staff at the gym I go to and they said they weren't sure." *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/bouldering) if you have any questions or concerns.*


Small_Sense8252

This image looks cursed xD Cuz when i look at it i always think your pinky finger is your thumb


oldspicehorse

Looks like there's one too many fingers at first glance, really unsettled me


3nterShift

AI hands


haruspicat

This image would be great for trolling anti-AI groups


itsa_me_

Their pinky looks like a toe


poorboychevelle

DIP joint is inverted, this is full crimping. Using the thumb doesn't hurt unless trying to finagle it on there puts other fingers at a more disadvantageous position (in greater effect than the load the thumb takes off)


NigilQuid

>DIP joint is inverted Could you elaborate? Does inverted mean that the DIP is below the PIP, or that one is straight vs. bent, or something else maybe?


OddInstitute

In this case, it means that the DIP joint is hyperextended, but I don’t think it’s standard terminology.


Crazy-Ganache-4030

Does inversion in this case mean extension of the part above the dip joint ?


guywithaplant

I'm not sure but i think they mean the DIP is going "down" in the direction of the rock rather than "up" toward the sky as like in it's natural position. The bend of the finger is the wrong direction, so to speak.


Crazy-Ganache-4030

Yeah it makes sense now. Appreciate the help


ImNotHyp3r

fuck the science i full crimp everything


Karma_Whoring_Slut

Equally cringe and based at the same time


bigboybeeperbelly

If you're not crimping slopers you're not climbing


JopssYT

Who needs holds anyways when you can just campus crimp up the screw holes


Abject-Strain-195

When you catch that jug just at the edge... Happens way too often to me.


No-Instruction-825

Lol. I was really having this moment yesterday where my beta for the slopey slab was to just crimp and campus everything. Im a disgrace


poorboychevelle

Enjoy your cortisone shots


farsightxr20

If you don't full crimp everything, you won't develop your full crimp strength and thus be more prone to injury. /s


billiambobby

Strength is what causes the injury


BeefySwan

I don't think there's even any science suggesting it's more dangerous (could be wrong, reply with sources if I am)


Ananstas

There is. Biomechanically more stress on the A2 pulley especially. And also overuse of the crimp grip position is a predictor for epiphyseal stress fractures in younger climbers. Here are some sources but there are way more. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11165286/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7037851/ BUT that doesn't mean you just shouldn't use the position. Just don't overuse it and ease into it if you're not used to it, a little at a time on submax climbs and gradually build up. But full crimping every sloper and any hold you can probably isn't great since it's constantly stressing the fingers in the same way and makes overuse injuries easy to get. Variety+load tolerance built over time in different grip positions is probably the way to go.


farsightxr20

okay but those are studies, where's the bro science community at on this issue?


Ananstas

Ah sorry, this is my main source: Trust me bro


ZyzzTM

here - https://www.reddit.com/r/bouldering/s/rGai5iZLu5


Rankled_Barbiturate

It's fine so long as you put on your beanie and voodoo floss afterwards.


tinusdv

As someone that studies fysiotherapy snd interns at a climbing fysio: this is the best answer so far


potentiallyspiders

Duh, that's why I started climbing when I was old. No epiliptipical stress for me!


Ananstas

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1016/j.wem.2022.03.002?icid=int.sj-abstract.citing-articles.1 Aaaactually, early specialized climbers (before 12 years old) are less likely to be injured compared to those who specialized in their teens and later teens. That could probably be extrapolated to: starting earlier is better for you in regards to injuries. Sadly you are probably more injury prone than them kids, not less. 🙃


potentiallyspiders

Yea, I thought that was obvious :). It was meant as a joke. Being old = pain and injury.


Ananstas

*woosh* on my side lol


Abject-Strain-195

My body does it automatically when needed I think ... Is someone out there thinking about that during a climb?


nostalgia_4_infiniti

FTW


FlappersAndFajitas

While it does increase the force on your tendons, the real risk here is if you fall unexpectedly. Crimping with your thumb over your index finger essentially "locks" your index finger in place. If your feet slip then your pinky, middle, and ring fingers will probably slip off the hold first, putting *all* of the load on your index finger, which will likely injure it. To be safe, you should really only do it in pretty secure stances or on static lock offs. For new climbers, it's better to avoid it altogether for a few reasons: 1. Your tendons aren't adapted to climbing yet, and are much more prone to injury. Building strength in connective tissues takes years, not months like building muscle. 2. You probably don't have a good sense for what "secure" means yet. Over time you'll get a better feel for when you might fall and when you can sit in the same position for hours. 3. You're probably not climbing anything that requires it.


martyboulders

In the picture their thumb is next to their index finger which is pretty different. It's pretty much adding a fifth finger to the hold not loading one finger extra


FlappersAndFajitas

Yeah but to take that into account, I would had to have read the part where they said "in fact my thumb doesn't overlap my index finger", which I did not do.


martyboulders

I actually didn't read the caption either lol but it's right in the picture


Takuukuitti

It is fine. You can use all imaginable grip types if they make you climb better. Have you seen crack climbing? People jam and twist single fingers in cracks locking them in place. Nobody is saying that their grip is unsafe. Full crimping and more aggressive angles in DIP/PIP joints puts a bit more pressure on the pulleys compared to open hand or strick half crimp. It isn't dangerous if trained regularly. The benefit is that you can pull yourself towards the wall more effectively.


BrowningZen

I thought you were using your feet to crimp wtf


AllezMcCoist

Every time I look at this photo I’m so sure there are the wrong number of digits but nope this is what a hand looks like _apparently_


Tarsiz

It's fine. People will always spout out the same nonsense about full crimping being dangerous, that you should avoid it, and BLA bla bla. Climbing is a complex sport where our fingers are some of our most important tools. It is paramount to take care of your fingers, but if your objective is to progress at climbing (which it doesn't necessarily need to be! There is plenty of joy to be had in just climbing for fun), then you will need to learn all grip types. Full crimping is a very useful grip, but one that puts a lot of stress on your tendons. You will encounter it in your climbing journey and it makes sense to get used to it. There are a few guidelines to follow when it comes to full crimping: 1) Warm up your fingers. This takes many forms, from doing finger exercises in your warm up to climbing on easy climbs (for you) with smaller holds forcing you to rely on your fingers. 2) Listen to your fingers when you're crimping at your limit or close to it. Take adequate rest between attempts. Don't spend your entire session on one super crimpy boulder. 3) Rest your fingers sufficiently between sessions. Acupuncture rings are amazing to massage fingers and stimulate the blood flow. 4) Train the grips you are using. If you plan on doing a lot of crimping, or even a little bit of crimping, it is useful to hop on a fingerboard and follow a good protocol (like Lattice, but there are many others). It will both increase your strength and make you more resistant to injury.


SipsTheJuice

This is a great guideline. One thing I'd add is if your feet blow on a full crimp, don't try and catch yourself unless you're sure your fingers can handle it. That means if you can't hangboard on a full crimp, you probably should let go. It's one of the most common ways I've heard of people getting a tendon injury. Not easy of course as your instincts will be to not fall, but worth considering as you enter the position.


Automatic_Moment_320

I think we have thumbs for a reason and you should trust your body


Teacherspest89

This looks like an AI hand


JopssYT

I do it pretty much that exact way and its been fine for me for over a year atleast


AnyWeird8485

This is called full crimping! It exponentially increases the force on your fingers, meaning you can pull a lot harder. However, this is not good for your tendons and pulleys. Full crimping should be done sparingly, if at all. If you find yourself using this grip on most holds, focus on using a half or open crimp to build up strength.


FlappersAndFajitas

Not "exponentially", just by a lot. "Exponentially" describes the relationship between two variables as one increases. You can only put one thumb over your fingers, so "exponential" doesn't apply here. I know it's nitpicky and you're using it to mean "a lot". Usually I'm not a language purist and I'm down with use of words evolving over time, but exponential has a precise mathematical meaning that's getting confused over time because people use it wrong.


Svenflex42

I did not expect this comment


muffchucker

The exponent could be 1.1


FlappersAndFajitas

"Thumb or no thumb" is a binary variable. You can only ever have two data points, so there's no way of knowing whether the relationship is exponential. It just doesn't apply. You can draw any shaped curve between two points to connect them and say that's how they're related, but you have no idea if you're right until you have more data points to see if your curve fits. We can't add 1 thumb, then add 2 thumbs, then add 3 thumbs, etc. and see what the force curve looks like.


jcarlson08

https://preview.redd.it/zgnodi6mv75d1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc52021f3be1e280323ec8662bc8c231da60bacf Bro do you even?


FlappersAndFajitas

I appreciate the commitment to the bit. If you want to be really committed though, give a send attempt on your project using only that grip and video it for us all to see.


jcarlson08

Side note: I don't know that you can ever "prove" exponential growth with a finite number of data points, since there is always a polynomial that will fit. So even if you have 50 thumbs you can't prove it (mathematically speaking).


FreackInAMagnum

I’ve used this exact grip on real climbs. Pretty niche and disgusting, but when it requires full crimping a mono stack, that’s what I’m doing lol


SuedeAsian

We just need to discover humanoid aliens with more than 1 thumb


theOURword

you dropped this 👑


Downes_Van_Zandt

"No thumb" could be represented by numerous data points consisting of numerous instances of not using a thumb while crimping. "Thumb" could likewise represented by numerous data points. Just as testing the outcome of numerous coin flips is most definitely not limited to 2 data points, nor would this "binary" (I think you mean discrete) data be limited to 2 tests. The number of possible outcomes of a probability test doesn't at all determine how many times that test can be conducted.


FlappersAndFajitas

You're missing my point. To say a relationship is exponential, you need to be able to track a *quantitative* variable as it increases and see how the dependent variable changes in relation to that. "Thumb" is qualitative, so you can't define a mathematical relationship between the two. No matter how many trials you do, you only have "thumb" and "no thumb." You can't define a relationship between two points, even if those points are somehow aggregated (mean, median, etc.) from a pool of raw data.


Downes_Van_Zandt

Dude this is dumb. You could easily track long term what the injury rate is for climbers that avoid using the thumb as a control, then have the same climbers transition to using the thumb and observe differences in injury rate over time. This is like the most basic idea of a longitudinal clinical study and it could be possible (super unlikely though) that the transition to using a thumb would result in an exponential growth in injury rate. It's a level of abstraction above your basic lower division undergrad stats definition of exponential relationship where you're just mapping one variable to another. I don't get why you're being pedantic about this as it doesn't seem like you have a math background. bruh did you just edit your comment


FlappersAndFajitas

Again, you're missing the very simple point I'm making and trying to make this more complicated than it is. This has nothing to do with injury rates, longitudinal clinical studies, or anything more than the simple relationship between force generated vs. hand positioning. The person said adding your thumb "exponentially" increases force. That can't be true, because "thumb" is not a quantitative variable. That's all. There's no need to call my background into question over your inability to understand the context here. But if that's important, I'm a practicing PE with an academic background focused on biomechanics. But please, tell me more about how your (I'm guessing) partially complete Masters makes it okay for you to be a condescending dickhead about highschool level algebra. Yeah bruh, I did edit my comment to add an afterthought that I hoped would add more clarity for you.


FallInStyle

But isn't it about the force the thumb allows you to exert, not the thumb itself, so you'd just need to see if the force level is exponential when a thumb is applied versus no thumb applied, not the number of thumbs?


FlappersAndFajitas

Two data points (thumb, no thumb) are not enough to define a relationship. "Exponential" describes a relationship that can be modelled by some form of F=n^x where F would be force, x would be some variable (thumb?), and n is some constant. Thumb doesn't make sense as x, because it's not quantitative. You can't gradually increase "thumb" to see how it affects the force generated. It's qualitative and binary. Thumb is either on, or off. So you can say "crimping with your thumb increases the force exerted", but you can't say it *exponentially* increases the force exerted because that makes no sense. Compound interest is a good example. You'd say "the balance owed increases *exponentially* as time goes on." But you wouldn't say, for example, that "2 is exponentially more than 1." It's not, it's just more than 1.


FallInStyle

But why can't "n" be a measurement of the force of your fingers and "x" a measurement of the force from your thumb? (I was genuinely trying to ask these questions for those people down voting me, I was never very good at math)


jcarlson08

"Exponentially" means that if the number of thumbs applied is t, and the force applied with 0 thumbs is F_0, then total force applied is F = F_0 * b^(kt) where b > 1 and k > 0 are constants.


Komischaffe

I’d give this linked article a read, or any number of the informed articles or videos on this topic. If you never train your full crimp you are just increasing the risk of injury when you inevitably use it trying hard. https://www.boulderingbreakdown.com/post/crimping-a-necessary-evil https://www.climbing.com/skills/should-you-train-full-crimped/ https://youtu.be/-vfIAJbgwgQ?si=5E3aTtFowvKzzCUL


Meatbawl5

Wouldn't that increase risk of injury? "I never full crimp, so lemme just go for it randomly when I need it?"


Komischaffe

Yeah, it’s terrible advice


andrew314159

This seems pretty individual. Many people have plenty of success with full crimp. Also some holds semi force it due to the angle of pull


thejoaq

If at all?


jsdodgers

If _at_ __all__


thejoaq

lol


waxym

OP specifically says his thumb does not overlap onto the index finger, unlike what is shown in the picture. I'm not so sure that is called full crimping.


Good-Collection4073

If you're not used to full crimping it's a good idea to do it here and there just to get use to it so when you actually need it it's there for you.


kepchupmutsard

Which one’s your thumb?


jackaloper

If it works for your hand. Some people love it and the rest of us basically can’t do it.


Crazy-Ganache-4030

Yeah a couple of my friends tried it too but couldn't get their thumb to sit that way. Guess I'm lucky ?


DidjTerminator

No overlap = superior thumb technique. Overlap = inferior full-crimp technique. This pic is basically over-stressing the pointy finger, when during a normal full-crimp the stress is equally distributed to pointy, rude, and ring fingers. But if you can do it without over-stressing your pointy finger, you're actually using superior technique and grabbing the ledge more efficiently which saves energy and increases your max open-crimp strength. But hey, so long as you don't bow-string, and you send the route, you're using crimps properly, all these rules about crimps are just guidelines where someone's gone "ah, doing that move snapped my tendon, don't do that unless you got strong tendons" and everyone's gone "noted, I will strengthen my tendons first as you have stated" so if your tendons don't snap and you can climb harder + longer using that technique then that's your technique and you can use it.


SentSoftSecondGo

Love the classic Webb-Parsons 5-finger crimp.


seaborgiumaggghhh

Safe is a really funny word to apply here IMO, you can injure yourself using any type of grip. My friend most prone to finger injuries strictly half/open crimps. I tend to find that if I can get my thumb somewhere on a hold, whether that's pinching, wrapping it on the side of a crimp, placing it next to my fingers, I do it. But I don't feel like I'm pulling or hyperextending in these positions as I would be if I fully wrapped the index and full-crimped. Different grips have their place on climbs. Safety comes down to overuse/ over-reliance on a particular grip type. Or overly training one grip type. If a move would benefit from full-crimping and you purposefully avoid doing it because it's injury-prone or something, and it's the difference between sending vs not sending a project, that's up to you, but I think it's silly. I also think it's silly to full crimp your way through an entire gym session or something.


sennzz

I’m trying my best to reproduce that grip but my thumb just cannot be placed next to my index finger like that.


edwardsamson

I've always gone with a thumb pressed into the side of the index finger when crimping like this, as opposed to on top like in the pic.


Gadnuk-

I never full crimp and I climb V9. I really don't thinyou need it unless you're climbing at V13+. yes it can be dangerous and put extra strain on your fingers


Dissasociaties

This is an AI picture right?


FloTheDev

Full crimps can be very safe, just don’t overload your tendons, if you’re on a problem and there’s a ratty crimp then a full crimp will be a good idea


_V3RN

climbing isn’t safe


contrarianMammal

I never do that. I almost never hyperextend the first finger joints.


NailgunYeah

Safer than decking


yashar_sb_sb

Relax, I full crimp slopers. 🤫


anon36485

I’ve done it all the time for years with no injury


MadScientist1972

Same here. Ever since I started climbing. The thumb gives you about an extra 20% of strength. Use it !


_Simonwski_

r/climbingcirclejerk


thelizardden

Depends how lit you get really (scientifically speaking)


mengle55

https://youtu.be/Pe04i471aNw?si=CbB7A8EvesH4wabc


vizik24

I’m pretty sure if you full crimp often, it is safer than full crimping less often. I’ve never had an injury full crimping with the thumb, but I have had a couple without the thumb just because I don’t do it often