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how long should it take to heal? 28-Oct-2008 At 5:50:37 PM psd

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I've got an injured pulley at the moment too but in my case it's from diversifying into bouldering (my trad friends told me it was a mistake) and going too hard too soon (and not warming up!). It was a gradual thing that built up - not a pop - probably not as bad as yours.

Anyway my wife is a specialist hand physio who sees a lot of climbers so I've had a lot of treatment and good advice. The bad news is that for complete healing 3 months is normal. I still can't crimp hard on anything without a bit of pain and it's been almost 2 months - but I can climb easier grades without a problem. It probably took about 3 weeks before I could climb just on jugs - my wife made me a little thermoplastic splint to support the pulley and it had the bonus of protecting it from the pressure from the edges of big holds in the gym.

Whatever you do don't crimp on it until it's totally healed or you'll really bugger it and don't do anything that hurts it. See an expert and get some exercises (tendon gliding and stretching stuff is important apparently) so you don't get more injuries and it heals properly. You can certainly do permanent damage if you do the wrong thing at this stage. An expert might also identify other bits and pieces you've injured along with the pulley like the tendon.