Wolfgang and Craggy,

Thanks for the replies. And thanks, Craggy, for finishing my sentence correctly! It is VERY heartening to hear that you have continued to climb with your Dupuytren's. I never thought about not being able to jam though! I live close to Yosemite, but I may just have to plan more trips for "continental" 2 finger pockets on French and Spanish limestone! You are right though, I am obsessed enough with climbing to probably have a hard time giving it up.

I think I will do the radiation therapy treatment. I have recently been in contact with Prof Seegenschmidt, thanks to Wolfgang, and will probably find myself in Germany in the not too distant future.

thanks again,

Ethan

Ethan I am very interested in finding out how this turned out. I too am a 7C/7C+ climber and just noticed the nodule in my left hand a couple months ago, and also met another climber with the same condition. I am actively massaging it every day in the hopes that direct pressure might help (mentioned on http://www.dupuytren-online.info/dupuytr...s_research.html and I found a diagram somewhere else). I am worried though that if I have to go down the therapy path it could lead to a serious decrease in tendon strength - possibly leading to a pop while climbing (I've broken a tendon before, not fun at all). What was your outcome after your treatment? Could you continue to climb/keep training in the months/years afterwards?

Hi Ethan and other climbers,
I am new to the forum so I am repeating the same info in all posts for climbing.
I live in the part of Spain better for climbing (Catalunya) and I know a few climbers with dupuytren's disease. In my experience, there's no point in quiting climbing. First, a real climber would never be able to quit :) and second, what I have seen is nodules that appear (usually one on each hand in the same year), hurt a little while growing and then stop growing or hurting for many years. If that was your case there's no need to quit. Dupuytren has also been reported to be mainly nodular after radius fracture for example.
By the way, in some of my friends the first lump appeared after a winter training at the boulder, so I have the feeling that bouldering causes more damage or whatever it is that triggers Dupuytren's in climbers.