The Mental Game of Climbing Injuries - Arno Ilgner

In this conversation, Beth Scott, an occupational therapist and passionate climber, discusses mental health in climbing and provides practical techniques for improving mental well-being. The conversation covers topics such as understanding mental health for climbers, the importance of grounding exercises, breathing techniques, and building community for mental health support. Beth emphasizes the need to address mental health in a holistic manner and provides tangible strategies that climbers can incorporate into their climbing practice. Overall, the conversation highlights the significance of mental health in climbing and offers valuable insights for climbers of all levels. In this conversation, Beth Scott, OTR/L, shares valuable insights and strategies for climbers to prevent injuries, improve technique, and enhance performance. The conversation covers the benefits of climbing, common injuries, warm-up and stretching exercises, mental preparation, building strength and endurance, and the importance of recovery and rest. Beth emphasizes the importance of proper technique, body awareness, and listening to your body's signals. She provides practical exercises and tips that can be applied both in climbing and in everyday life. Overall, this conversation provides a comprehensive guide to climbing injury prevention and performance optimization.

Takeaways

• Mental health is a broad category that encompasses various aspects of well-being, including anxiety, depression, and neurodivergence.
• Grounding exercises, such as the five senses exercise, can help climbers stay present and manage stress and anxiety.
• Deliberate breathing while climbing can improve focus, oxygenation, and mental clarity.
• Building a supportive community and engaging in social activities can contribute to better mental health in climbing. 
• Addressing mental health in a holistic manner is essential for climbers to optimize their overall well-being and performance.

Beth Scott's Bio

• My name is Beth Scott, and I’m an occupational therapist in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I started climbing around 10 years ago when I began undergrad studies. I was uncoordinated and far from athletic, but realized I needed a way to meet people and simultaneously deal with stress. Each year after I became more interested (obsessed?) in climbing, and eventually began cross training, competing, giving lessons, coaching, and route setting at local climbing gyms until starting graduate school. The more I climbed inside and out, the more I saw large gaps in access to both indoor and outdoor climbing to Oklahomans of every ability level. An occupation like climbing can offer so much more than just physical health, and I want to help bridge those gaps.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:26 Understanding Mental Health for Climbers
• 03:30 Mental Health is Not Always Negative
• 05:18 Practical Tips for Improving Mental Health
• 06:00 Grounding Exercise: Five Senses
• 09:56 Breathing Techniques for Mental Health
• 23:26 Building Community for Mental Health 
• 33:17 Final Thoughts

Beth Scott's Bio My name is Beth Scott, and I’m an occupational therapist in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I started climbing around 10 years ago when I began undergrad studies. I was uncoordinated and far from athletic, but realized I needed a way to meet people and simultaneously deal with stress. Each year after I became more interested (obsessed?) in climbing, and eventually began cross training, competing, giving lessons, coaching, and route setting at local climbing gyms until starting graduate school. The more I climbed inside and out, the more I saw large gaps in access to both indoor and outdoor climbing to Oklahomans of every ability level. An occupation like climbing can offer so much more than just physical health, and I want to help bridge those gaps.

CONTACT BETH SCOTT: 17bethclark@gmail.com

Links and Resources for This Episode:

• 📝 Full Article Reviewed in the Podcast
• 🎥 Video YouTube Podcast Episode

Social Media and Webpage:

• 🕸️Webpage / 📸 Instagram /📍Pinterest / 📝 Blog Articles: 

Books, Injury Protocols, and Rehab Tools

• Climb Injury-Free Book / Self-Help Injury Protocols / Rehab Tools:  /Brand Partner Discounts 

Injury Rehab Coures

• Courses for Medical Providers / Courses for Coaches

In this episode, Evan Ingerson, a physical therapist, discusses the challenges of returning to climbing after an injury or break. He emphasizes the importance of measuring and systematizing the return to climbing process, using a total load calculation based on difficulty and volume. Evan also highlights the need to consider wall type and hold grip type in rehab and progression. He introduces the concept of shoulder spheres for shoulder injuries and provides tips on using the gym as a tool and climbing with good influences. Overall, he encourages climbers to focus on drills, technique, and making the most of the return to climbing experience.

Takeaways

• Measure and systematize the return to climbing process using a total load calculation based on difficulty and volume.
• Consider wall type and hold grip type in rehab and progression.
• Use the gym as a tool to modify climbs and focus on drills and technique.
• Climb with good influences and avoid pushing too hard too soon.

Evan Ingerson’s Bio

• Evan was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science from Oregon State University he moved to Denver to attend Regis University and explore the Rocky Mountains. Evan graduated with honors with his doctorate in physical therapy from Regis in 2016 and has been doing everything he can to continue to grow his clinical effectiveness ever since. When he’s not in the clinic Evan enjoys everything Colorado has to offer such as rock climbing, mountain biking, skiing, and ballroom dancing. Evan is happily taking new clients via telehealth only. Schedule online or contact him directly at evan@mendcolorado.com for inquiries. Please note: Evan is no longer taking Free Consultations

Links and Resources for This Episode:

• 📝 Full Article Reviewed in the Podcast
• 🎥 YouTube Session Recording

Social Media and Webpage:

• 🕸️Webpage / 📸 Instagram /📍Pinterest / 📝 Blog Articles: 

Books, Injury Protocols, and Rehab Tools

• Climb Injury-Free Book / Self-Help Injury Protocols / Rehab Tools:  /Brand Partner Discounts 

Injury Rehab Coures

• Courses for Medical Providers / Courses for Coaches

Listen In this interview The Climbing Doctor talks with world class trainer and climber, Patrick Matros. Patrick holds a master's degree in sport and educational sciences, is the author of two climbing books, including the worldwide bestseller GimmeKraft!, and has trained some of the top climbers in the world, such as Alex Megos and Margo Hayes. This episode covers:

• Climbing/training trends
• Analyzing a climber and creating/implementing a performance plan
• Coaching philosophy and working with Alex Megos 
• Managing injuries and callaborating with other health professionals
• Patrick's general tips for climbing resiliency 
• Patrick's info and outro

Contact Info:

• IG: @kraftfactory
• email: coaches@kraftfactory.de

Listen Arno Ilgner is a distinguished rock climber and first ascensionist, perhaps most well known as the author of The Rock Warrior's Way. Through his best selling work, Arno outlines his methodologies emphasizing mental training to help his students and readers improve their awareness, focus attention, and understand their athletic (and life) challenges within a coherent, learning-based philosophy of intelligent risk-taking. In this interview with The Climbing Doctor, Arno discusses his history, mental aspects of climbing, and injury management. This episode covers:

• A history of The Rock Warrior's Way -- how it started and developed to what it is today
• Mental aspects of injury management with climbing
• Body awareness and mental flexibility 
• Arno's personal routine for sharpening his mind
• Coping with stressors in rehab and leveraging senses to live in the moment
• Arno's general advice and closing thoughts

Contact Info:

• https://warriorsway.com/
• IG: @rockwarriorsway

Listen In this video, The Climbing Doctor Interviews 4-time Climbing World Cup Champion Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou, delving into her personal routines, coaching philosophies, favorite climbing drills, and how she has managed to maintain her health through a lifetime of tough climbing. This episode covers:

• Robyn Erbesfield Raboutou intro 
• Robyn Erbesfield Raboutou's thoughts on family and what motivates/inspires her
• Robyn Erbesfield Raboutou's warm up routine
• Team management/warm up in team setting 
• Supplemental exercise routine - progressions, addressing weak links, maintenance
• Common areas of weakness, injury prevention, and how RR addresses them
• What distinguishes elite level climbers
• Robyn Erbesfield Raboutou's favorite drills 
• RR’s advice on injury management 
• Outro

Robyn's Bio: Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou is a 4-time Climbing World Cup champion, 5 time U.S.A champion, and the third female climber to send 5.14a. She has been coaching since 1993 and has served as the head coach for the USA Climbing Youth Team. Additionally, Robyn is the founder of ABC Kids Climbing, an institution that has included the likes of Brooke Raboutou, Colin Duffy, Margo Hayes, and Natalia Grossman.

Contact Info:

• https://www.abckidsboulder.com/
• IG: @robyn_erbesfield_raboutou

Listen In this video, The Climbing Doctor interviews Tom Randall! Tom is the founder of, as well as coach of Lattice Training, a comprehensive training platform for rock climbing. Watch as Tom pulls from his vast experiences as a high level climber and coach to discuss training methodology, injury prevention, and more! This episode covers:

• How Tom started and developed his training
• Developing Lattice Training 
• Tom's experiences with personal injury 
• Common injuries and mistakes
• Shoulder resiliency and management 
• Tom's go-to exercises for general resiliency and holistic approach
• Tom's general advice for climbing
• Outro

Contact Info:

• IG: @tompaulrandall @latticetraining
• YT: @LatticeTraining
• Facebook: Lattice

Listen as The Climbing Doctor interviews Kris Hampton on all topics related to climbing and injuries. They go deep on Kris's experience with shoulder and hamstring injuries, what he does to climb strong without getting hurt, common technique errors with climbing, and balancing technique drills with hard climbing. This episode covers:

• Shoulder injuries and climbing specific rehab
• Hamstring injuries when rock climbing
• What do you do to avoid injuries
• Common climbing errors related to performance
• How to combine training, techniques, and movement performance
• Closing thoughts

Kris Hampton's Bio: Kris became a student of movement by watching gymnasts train at a facility near the neighborhood where he grew up. He saved his own money, took a class, and in a short time, was teaching tumbling classes and coaching men's gymnastics. In 1994, Kris found rock climbing, and after a decade as a trad climber, and a short break from climbing, discovered the joy of the gymnastic movement that is sport climbing and bouldering. To make up for the time away from the sport, at age 33, Kris began to get serious about training for climbing. At 40, he climbed his first 5.14, and at 44, his first V11, both of which are grades that seemed mythical when he first began climbing. He doesn't believe that the progression will end there. Seeing his success, Kris's friends asked for training plans. Then readers of the blog asked for training plans. Now he's written plans for thousands of climbers all over the world, and gets just as much satisfaction from their successes as he does his own.

Website:

• https://www.powercompanyclimbing.com/
• Instagram: @powercompanyclimbing

Listen In this video, The Climbing Doctor interviews world class climbing coach, Dicki Korb -- trainer of Alex Megos and co-author of the best selling climbing book, Gimme Kraft! Watch as Dicki shares his thoughts and methodologies from his 37 years of climbing! This episode covers:

• Gimme Kraft! and sharing training methods
• Contemporary training
• Dicki's go to exercises, warm up tips, and movement practice/preparation 
• Challenges, risks, and considerations with modern competition climbing
• Finger training, campus boarding, and training errors 
• Changes in coaching since pandemic
• Dicki's general tips for resiliency

Contact Info:

• webpage: https://cafekraft.de/de
• email: coaches@kraftfactory.de

Listen as The Climbing Doctor interviews Tenaya athlete Felipe Camargo on all topics related to injuries. This interview was part of the “Behind the Send” campaign by Tenaya, sharing the stories of those who make the climbing life possible, from route developers, coaches, and physios to mountain guides, mentors, and advocates. This episode covers:

• Felipe’s history of finger injuries and prevention exercises
• Finger intrinsic strength 
• Finger warm-up strategies for climbing
• Tips and tricks to keep the fingers strong for climbing 
• Anatomy of the pulleys and pulley protection ring
• Rehabilitation exercises for pulley injuries
• The variation behind the side and length of climbers’ digits 
• Problem solving the mechanics of Felipe’s injuries related to gripping

Felipe was born in Ribeiro Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1991. He began climbing at the age of 10 in a small, local rock-gym, and only a few years later, at the age of 15, won his first Brazilian Championship, an achievement he repeated 5 times, as he did with the South American Championship. On rock, he established Brazil’s first V15 (8C) boulder problem and is the first South American climber to reach both 9a+ and 8C grades. Felipe has also become a top exponent of high grade multi-pitch climbs, as illustrated by his second ascent of ‘Corazón de Ensueño’ (250 metros, 8c) in China’s Gethu region.

Website:

• https://blog.tenaya.net/en/2020/12/15...