Acupuncture in the treatment of finger pulley Injury: a quantitative study

Abstract

With the growth in popularity of rock climbing as a sport, finger pulley injuries have become an increasingly prevalent problem. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of finger pulley injuries amongst climbers in Singapore through a survey of 109 participants, as well as the effectiveness of acupuncture performed on the A2, A3 or A4 pulleys on functional finger strength recovery through a pilot clinical trial of 19 participants.

In the survey, climbers were asked about their climbing experiences as well as their history of finger pulley injuries. In the clinical trial, volunteers were assigned to treatment and control groups. Measurements of the volunteer’s maximum single-finger crimp force were taken for both groups before acupuncture was performed on the respective injured pulleys for the experimental group. Treatment and measurements were done around once a week depending on volunteer availability.

Survey results show almost 65.7% of climbers in Singapore having experienced finger pulley injuries, with years of climbing (P <0.001) and climbing grade (P = 0.001) being the best predictors of occurrence. Clinical trial results suggest that participants recover finger strength following a logarithmic model, with nonlinear regression analysis suggesting statistically significant differences between treatment and control groups. (P <0.001)