Rock climbers??

This is a huge long shot but, here goes: is there anyone out there who is a rock climber? If so, how long did you wait, post pm,to start climbing again? Carol

12 Comments

8 Weeks

by PacerRep - 2012-09-07 01:09:04

Don't even begin to think about it for at least 8 weeks. Thats just the time you need for the leads to set themselves properly. With rock climbing I might even tell you 12 weeks just to be safe, thats a lot of overhead movement with lots of straining. If you dislodge one of those leads you just won yourself another surgery to correct it.

Be Patient

by mike thurston - 2012-09-07 06:09:17

Hey Carol, PacerRep has given good advice. No need to hurry, let things settle in. On the up side I have been a climber for 20 years and was able to climb again after receiveing a PM/ICD. Not climbing at the moment but plan on trying to in the future. Currently taking it easy with the 9th and 10th ribs on my left side broken from a bike wreck. My heart issues make the hiking in and out harder than the climbing. I am a very average climber and at this point just want to do long 5.6 to 5.8 Rest up and you will be fine. Let me know when you are climbing again and maybe we can climb a route or 2. I am from southern Indiana and have climbed a lot of different places. Anyway, take your time, maybe do some wrist curls, after a few weeks and it will all come back.
Mike

Many thanks

by Matabar - 2012-09-07 07:09:58

Wow! This site is so amazing! Yes Mike, I know Pacer Rep's advice is sound. Actually my EP told me to wait 6 months before climbing! I guess I'll wait at least 12 weeks, per PacerRep's advice, and go out and climb some slabs that won't require very much pulling on that arm. Ive been going out to the crags with my husband to belay him and it's torture just resisting the urge to tie in!
Sorry you broke your ribs on the bike, but i'm glad to hear you were riding. I love road biking but have been nervous about getting out there for fear of crashing on the left side and harming the pm. As for climbing, I was leading 10s and 11s (sport) at American Fork this past June. I don't know if it's possible to do that again, but I'm hopeful. I do love long, easy, multi-pitch though and definitely look forward to that. Especially here at Red Rock Canyon in Vegas.
I guess for now I'll go do some wrist curls! Let me know if
you plan a trip to Red Rocks. You've probably climbed here since you've been climbing 20 years. Thanks for your supportive, encouraging response! Carol

Just FYI

by PacerRep - 2012-09-08 08:09:25

If your E.P. told you 6 months, go with that. The more the merrier.

Does a tree trimmer count?

by ILoominatedEKG - 2012-09-08 09:09:32

I trim trees out of electric lines. My cardio said I could return to normal duty after 4 weeks, but then a lead pierced my heart and he extended it till 8 weeks after my last surgery. We'll see! I'm wondering if that's a little agressive at this point.

Dave

Sounds right to me

by PacerRep - 2012-09-09 01:09:32

8 Weeks sounds like good advice to me. Most patients the only over head motion they do is to get a glass out of a cabinet or wash their hair, thats 4 weeks in my book. Holding heavy equipment for an 8 hour shift, 8 weeks doesn't sound aggressive. But I know you have to make a living as well. Best of luck

Red Rocks

by mike thurston - 2012-09-10 01:09:19

Never climbed at Red Rocks Carol. My son has climbed there and he feels the approaches would be to diffficult for me at this point. I know there are some spots not so far out and maybe someday I will get there. My last good trip was a year and a half ago and I went on a 4,000 mil Kind of a loner at the moment and may just trye trip by myself and hooked up with some Canadian climbers one of whom is a member of this site named Rolf. I have a PM/ICD and Rolf and one other Lady both have ICDs. Maybe a first, 3 climbers with ICDs. Rolf was very good, leading hard sport (12) at age 60. We were climbing not too far from you at St. George , Utah and surrounding area. It was a great time. I am sure you will be climbing at your previous levels down the road. I am struggleling getting back into climbing as I don't fit well into any groups at the moment and I have to travel a lot to climb as Indiana is not exactly a rock climbing mecca.May just try soloing easy stuff. Good luck to you.

Rolf now Rolfr11

by Rolfr11 - 2012-09-13 03:09:58

Hi Mike, Carol
It's been a while since I posted and had to rejoin, hence the new user name.
Carol, it is totally possible to get back to your previous climbing level and to even exceed it! My biggest concern during the healing process was tearing the leads from my heart and suffering a catastrophic setback. I spent the time improving my cardio and overall fitness , the climbing came back quickly. Work that core since that is the centre of all climbing. I waited 5-6 months before I started training and climbing seriously.
Right now business and building a new home has kept me away from the crags but I will be returning to training and climbing this winter as well as my new obsession, road biking, and completing my first century, the Tour de Palm Springs" in Feb.
Where is home? My wife and I spend the winter in La Quinta, Palm Springs area, and I usually climb at Joshua Tree and New Jack City, at a much more moderate grade. JT can be very humbling and challenging!
Always looking for fun partners, let me know if you are in the area.
Best regards
Rolf

Private message

by Matabar - 2012-09-19 09:09:30

Rolf, I sent you a private message. Hope you get it. Sometimes I miss those! Carol

Pro-Rock Climber

by leemeans - 2012-10-08 04:10:09

Glad to see everyone is still getting out to the crags!!!!!! I actually just stumbled across this site because I have been invited to go skiing in CO at the end of November. And to be honest I am very nervous about it. I started researching and haven't been very encouraged... Any of you climbers ski?
-Lee

old DPM article

by leemeans - 2012-10-08 04:10:09

just dug this up, felt like sharing again, if anyone is interested...
-Lee
http://www.dpmclimbing.com/articles/view/bionic-boy-wonder-lee-means

Rock Climbing

by Blecha - 2013-10-07 02:10:16

Hello,

Seems the right place to get some hints when resuming the climbing with a PM. I got my PM in emergency 1 month ago, 4 days after the ablation of the auricular flutter (that left me in an unsafe situation, hence emergency implantation). I just started to do some cardiac effort. My Dr. asked me not to start with climbing before 6 weeks after the PM installation, looks rather permissive. I would be grateful to you, PM certified climbers, if you could summarize your experience with PM as a climber and what kind of problems you met. How soon you climbed ? Do you feel any specific pain ? Do you wear any sort of specific protection (I have another implant for chemotherapy under other clavicle) ? What kind/difficulty of climbing are you doing ? Any restriction (no crack, no lead, ...)? What is the setting of your PM (mine is AAI/DDD with base rate at 50 ppm). It's open-ended …

Regards Andre

P.S.: I am 70 years old

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