Pulley injury (A2, climbing) — 8-week BPC log, return to full crimp
8 posts
Posting this as a structured log because I couldn't find one when I tore my A2.
Injury: grade 2 A2 pulley strain, right ring finger, climbing a crimpy boulder. Audible pop, swelling within an hour. Self-diagnosed, didn't image — pulled back to half crimp only, taped.
Protocol:
- BPC-157, 500mcg Sub-Q, once daily, over the palmar base of the affected finger
- 8 weeks continuous
- Rehab: H-taping, no crimping, hangboard with open hand only at 50% bodyweight, progressing
Weekly notes:
- W1-2: swelling down ~70%, pain on light pinch dropped from 5/10 to 2/10
- W3-4: half crimp at low load pain-free, full crimp still tender
- W5-6: full crimp with open grip bias at 60% bodyweight, no pop, mild stiffness morning of
- W7-8: full crimp at 80% bodyweight, tape off, no pain
Post-cycle (current, week 14): back to climbing V6-V7 which was my pre-injury level. Occasional stiffness morning after hard sessions, nothing I'd call pain.
Local Sub-Q at the finger base wasn't glamorous — 31g pin, very small bleb, rotated between palmar base and dorsal base each day. Not painful to pin.
Biggest variable I can't control for: the no-crimp rehab was legit and I'd been lazy about finger rehab for years. The 8 weeks of BPC coincided with the first real rehab I've ever done on these fingers. So.
11 Replies
52 posts
Clean log. The 'I also did real rehab for the first time' caveat is what separates a useful report from a hype post. Thank you for being honest about it.
- BPC-157 · 250 mcg · 2x/day local · sub-Q
- TB-500 · 2 mg · weekly · sub-Q
32 posts
A2 is one of the injuries where the local Sub-Q argument is strongest — the tissue is right there under thin skin, the depot is effectively on the pulley. Good application.
32 posts
Saving this. Have a chronic mild A4 tweak that's been whispering at me for 6 months. Going to copy the protocol.
13 posts
How did you handle pinning at the finger base without hitting a tendon sheath? 31g still seems close to stuff you don't want to hit.
8 posts
@back_on_the_mat shallow angle, Sub-Q only, bleb raised just under the skin. 31g half-inch, go in at 10-15 degrees to skin and stop as soon as you're past the dermis. You're making a skin wheal, not going deep.
117 posts
For context: 8 weeks is inside the natural healing window for a grade 2 pulley. Your return-to-climb timeline is in the range of good rehab without pharmacological help. Not saying BPC did nothing, saying the delta over standard-of-care is the hard thing to pin down.
8 posts
@showmethestudy totally fair. I can't run the counterfactual. If I tear the other side I'll do rehab only and compare, but I hope I don't.
16 posts
Finger pulley logs are rare and useful. Would love more structured ones like this — week by week notes, clear load progression, not just 'I'm healed.'
- IGF-1 LR3 · 30 mcg · post-workout · sub-Q
- CJC-1295 no DAC · 100 mcg · pre-bed · sub-Q
- Ipamorelin · 200 mcg · pre-bed · sub-Q
- MGF (PEG) · 200 mcg · post-workout · sub-Q
7 posts
Lurker speaking up — this is the kind of content that keeps me on this site instead of Reddit. Structured, honest, self-aware about variables. Bookmarking.
45 posts
sick log. i had an A2 pop on my left middle finger like 3 years ago and just... didn't do shit about it, kept climbing on it taped, and it healed fine but i still get that weird morning stiffness you mentioned. probably could've saved myself some grief with actual rehab like you did. anyway the subq dosing at the site is interesting, never thought about going that local instead of systemic but makes sense for something structural. how painful was the actual injection process, like did you get used to it or was it annoying every day
8 posts
nah this is solid work but I gotta push back a little on the local injection thing. you're pinning subq at the finger base which means most of the peptide is gonna diffuse systemically anyway, the concentration gradient doesn't really care that you started local. might feel like you're being precise but you probably got similar serum levels to someone doing it in the belly. the real variable here is just that you finally did proper rehab instead of climbing through it like the_stats_guy did, which tracks with what the literature says about grade 2 pulleys. not dunking on the log, it's useful, just saying the mechanism probably wasn't "local concentration at injury site" like you're imagining.