Why Climbers Get Hurt More in the Winter (And It’s Not Just Training Volume)
Why am I getting more injuries lately?
After daylight savings took effect and the below-freezing temps started to come in, I’ve noticed that my seasonal affective disorder (commonly referred to as just seasonal depression) has really settled in. I’m not a stranger to depressive symptoms: sleep issues (oversleeping especially), fatigue, loss of appetite, and low mood. During this time of the year, though, each of these things happen more intensely and frequently.
A week or two after I noticed the depression, I tore my A4 pulley at the gym. Looking back at the timeline of all my PT with Miguel, he and I realized that almost exactly one year ago, I also had a string of injuries that I was constantly rehabbing. And it wasn’t just me.
The number of Climbing Rehab patients tends to surge around this time of the year, and it hasn’t been limited to any particular skill/experience level, climbing discipline, age, or gender.
So we wondered, could it be related to seasonal depression? There weren’t many research articles on seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and athletes’ injury risk, but SAD mainly differs from general depression through its seasonal pattern, so we can reasonably draw some conclusions about its influence on climbers’ injuries based on research that focuses on depression and depressive symptoms.
Most people are familiar with the main symptoms of depression, like feeling depressed or irritable, loss of interest/pleasure in most or all activities, and feeling worthless. Other criteria for the diagnosis of depression include: (1)
Significant unintentional weight loss/gain OR decrease/increase in appetite
Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early, OR excessive daytime sleepiness or oversleeping
Moving/speaking a lot faster or slower than is typical for you
Fatigue or tiredness
Impaired ability to think, concentrate, or make decisions
Together, these symptoms can lead to physiological and attentional changes that can put athletes at greater risk for injury. (2)
Multiple studies show that there is a reciprocal relationship between musculoskeletal injuries and depressive symptoms.(3,4)
On the physiological side of things, heightened muscle tension reduces flexibility, mobility, and range of motion. It can also limit your coordination and power output. In climbing, this can look like difficulty getting into positions and/or engaging at positions that put you at your end range, making you vulnerable to strains and tears. On top of this, extremely tight muscles have more restricted bloodflow, delaying recovery (whether you’re injured or not). Recovery might also be negatively affected by other depressive symptoms like loss of appetite and worse sleep quality. This makes sense, since maintaining proper nutrition is necessary to fuel your body through recovery, (5) and sleep helps regulate the body systems that are responsible for repairing muscles. (6,7) Sleep deprivation specifically has been shown to reduce the process of repairing and building muscle. (7)
Meanwhile, difficulty thinking, concentrating, and making decisions can lead to injury through distractibility, worse risk management, and poorer decision-making. You might find yourself struggling to maintain that mind-body connection, attempting low percentage moves, and pushing past your limits. With symptoms like feeling depressed and having an overall negative self-image, I find that it’s more likely that I’ll question my choices on the wall, climb more hesitantly, and even undercommit to moves (this is exactly how I tore my UCL last year).
If SAD feels inevitable, does that mean I’m doomed to face an injury streak around this time every year?
Depression varies from person to person. I’m privileged enough to have access to mental health care, but at the same time, what (I think) has helped me the most is trying to adapt to daylight savings time. Daylight savings throws off our body’s internal clocks (circadian rhythm), which use hormone production to regulate sleep, mood, and metabolism. Help your body adjust by focusing on your sleep and matching your sleep-wake cycle to daylight savings (i.e., wake up and go to sleep earlier).
Since sleep is so important to our body’s recovery, I’ve also been actively working on improving my sleep hygiene (anything that supports consistent, restful sleep). This includes creating a night routine that signals to your body that it’s time to wind down, staying away from screens an hour (a few is better though) leading up to bedtime, and reinforcing the mental association that the bed is only for sleep (e.g., I don’t read or use my phone in bed anymore).
Often, the last part of injury recovery is working through the fear of getting hurt again. That alone shows that our psychosocial health plays a role in our climbing performance, so as you’re implementing floor exercises and on-the-wall drills to prevent injury, try also paying attention to ways you can prevent injury outside the gym too!
Lastly, setting the right stage for success BEFORE climbing is vital here. Strategies such as practicing breathing techniques, developing a pre-climbing ritual/mantra, and setting expectations for your sessions so that not every session feels like max performance can save you from unfortunate injuries.
If you’re currently dealing with an injury and already have a plan for physical recovery but are struggling with the mental side of it, I have partnered with Climbing Psychology and am providing a 30% discount to all Unblocd memberships and mini-courses with code "CLIMBINGREHAB".
If you’re an athlete, parent, or coach curious about climbing-specific rehab, or just want to connect, feel free to reach out. Always happy to chat and support however I can. I can be contacted via email climbing.rehab@gmail.com or through Instagram DMs @climbing.rehab.
