Physiological responses to rock climbing in young climbers

Abstract

Key questions regarding the training and physiological qualities required to produce an elite rock climber remain inadequately defined. Little research has been done on young climbers. The aim of this paper was to review literature on climbing alongside relevant literature characterising physiological adaptations in young athletes. Evidence-based recommendations were sought to inform the training of young climbers. Of 200 studies on climbing, 50 were selected as being appropriate to this review, and were interpreted alongside physiological studies highlighting specific common development growth variables in young climbers. Based on injury data, climbers younger than 16 years should not participate in international bouldering competitions and intensive finger strength training is not recommended. The majority of climbing foot injuries result from wearing too small or unnaturally shaped climbing shoes. Isometric and explosive strength improvements are strongly associated with the latter stages of sexual maturation and specific ontogenetic development, while improvement in motor abilities declines. Somatotyping that might identify common physical attributes in elite climbers of any age is incomplete. Accomplished adolescent climbers can now climb identical grades and compete against elite adult climbers aged up to and .40 years. High-intensity sports training requiring leanness in a youngster can result in altered and delayed pubertal and skeletal development, metabolic and neuroendocrine aberrations and trigger eating disorders. This should be sensitively and regularly monitored. Training should reflect efficacious exercises for a given sex and biological age.

Rock Climbing for Promoting Physical Activity in Youth

“…30,32 Some evidence on the physiological demands of competitive elite youth climbing exists, 39,46,47 as well as on the anthropometric requirements. 24 Of late, more articles are addressing the impact of rock climbing on the overall health-related fitness of youth.…”

Propuesta didáctica para evitar las principales lesiones en escaladores

“…Este tipo de trabajo no es adecuado para principiantes y, en particular, para los adolescentes cuyos huesos y ligamentos no están plenamente desarrollados (Dennis, Finch, & Farhart, 2005;Caine et al, 2006;Magra, Caine, & Maffulli, 2007;Morrison & Schöffl, 2007).…”

Feet injuries in rock climbers

“…In summary, most of the studies found that overuse injuries are mainly affecting the upper extremity, while acute traumatic injuries are more frequently located on the lower extremity [1,76] . Also, besides the acute lower limb injuries the incidence of chronic feet problems increases in the higher levels of sport climbing [23,25,75,77,78] . Scientific research in rock climbing up to date focused extensively on upper limb injuries.…”

“…This may be based on the fact that various upper limb injuries as e.g., pulley injuries [44,60,79] , lumbrical shift syndrome [32] , extensor hood syndrome [80] or epiphyseal fatigue fractures in young climbers [63] are new pathologies and rather specific for the sport. Studies and reports on lower limb injuries and overuse syndromes are rare [23,25,33,75,77,78] . Nevertheless as e.g., the study by Neuhof et al [2] showed, that the mostly injured region were the feet (19.2%), these injuries are of a high importance and need to be examined further [1] (Table 1) [61] .…”