Is Finger Pulp the Key to Crimping?

In this episode, Kris and Paul discuss the study that led to climbers everywhere both blaming and training their fingertip pulp:

Measuring Lifting Forces in Rock Climbing: Effect of Hold Size and Fingertip Structure

authored by Roger Bourne, Mark Halaki, Benedicte Vanwanseele, and Jillian Clarke; published in the Journal of Applied Biomechanics in 2011.

They’ll attempt to determine if just how meaty your tips are can actually help or hurt your climbing. And if so, is there even anything you can really do about it? Tune in to find out if it really does boil down to just the tips.

 

*Additional studies/resources mentioned in this episode:
Force response of the fingertip pulp to repeated compression—Effects of loading rate, loading angle and anthropometry authored by Elaine R.Serina, C.D. Mote Jr., and David Rempel; published in the Journal of Biomechanics, 1997.

 

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And please tell all of your friends who are constantly telling you that you're only good at crimping because of your tiny fingers, that you have the perfect podcast for them.

 

Breaking Beta is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and Crux Conditioning, and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective. Find full episode transcripts, citations, and more at our website.

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Our music is from legendary South Dakota band Rifflord.