Speaker A
So, I don't know how many times I've said that I've never been injured throughout like 25 years of climbing.
Magnus Midtbø shares his first climbing injury, breaking his thumb, and the challenges of recovery and adapting to training limitations.
Key Takeaways
- Even experienced climbers can face serious injuries unexpectedly.
- Proper medical care and patience are crucial for recovery.
- Injuries impact not only climbing but also everyday life activities.
- Maintaining fitness with adaptations can help during recovery.
- Mental resilience and motivation are key to overcoming setbacks.
What the video covers
- Magnus Midtbø discusses his first injury after 25 years of climbing: a broken thumb.
- He explains how the injury happened during a dumbbell challenge while filming in the US.
- Doctors estimate up to a year before he can fully climb again, with a possibility to climb carefully after 3 months.
- Magnus describes the difficulties of daily tasks without full use of his thumb.
- He shares his initial attempts to train with his uninjured right arm and the pain of limited grip strength.
- He reflects on the healing process and the psychological impact of the injury.
- Magnus emphasizes the importance of following medical advice to avoid worsening the injury.
- He mentions the support from travel insurance and Norwegian healthcare for treatment.
- He plans to stay fit and motivated during recovery and considers climbing with one hand cautiously.
- Magnus invites viewers to share tips for faster healing and alternative medicine options.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Injury Announcement
- 00:40Details of the Thumb Injury
- 01:44Daily Life Challenges and First Training Attempts
- 02:56How the Accident Happened
- 03:51Hospital Visit and Diagnosis
- 05:32Recovery Timeline and Medical Advice
- 07:42Cast Adjustment and Upcoming Checkup
- 08:23Healing Process Insights and Motivation
- 09:06Training Adaptations and Physical Changes
- 14:00Closing Remarks and Viewer Engagement
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
I've never been injured. In the last video on the second channel, I feel like I kind of jinxed it a little bit. If you take just a little risk many enough times, eventually the statistics are going to catch up to you and you're
Speaker A
going to end up in an accident or even worse. I just feel like this is going to be like a, it's going to come out after some tragic accident. So, so it finally happened.
Speaker A
I broke my thumb and the doctors say that it could take up to a year before I can climb, um, again. And, um, yeah, it sucks. And, um, yeah, it just really sucks. Um, yeah, here we are. My first injury
Speaker A
and, um, it could have been a lot worse. That's what I tell myself. Like even though it is the most important finger on your hand just to kind of function in normal everyday life. And I've realized that already. Like it's a struggle doing
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normal things, not having your thumb. It feels like my left hand is completely useless. Getting dressed, making myself a cup of coffee, everything food related is a complete struggle. And I feel so helpless. I need to ask my girlfriend
Speaker A
for help doing a lot of like easy tasks that I normally, of course, would do myself. I also tried to do like my first climbing session. I went to the gym and just kind of to figure out what I can
Speaker A
do. This is going to be the first training session since my injury. It's been 10 days now without any training. I have to start training at some point. I can still train my right arm. So, I'll just do as much as I can. I'm probably
Speaker A
gonna feel terrible, though, because I haven't worked out in like two weeks. It's weird that the thumb is so important for just hanging.
Speaker A
Like, it really hurts. I think the maximum pressure I can put on this is probably like 10, 15 kilos, maybe.
Speaker A
This is not that much fun. I mean, compared to climbing, feels weird. I haven't climbed in two weeks, so everything feels kind of stiff and should be careful not to injure my right arm, too. But it sucks that I'm not able
Speaker A
to climb when I look around at all these boulders. That's pretty much what I've been doing the last few years is only climb. But now I'm not able to do that. Now I have to do all these boring exercises
Speaker A
instead. Freaking sucks. Okay, so I think I should probably explain how the accident happened.
Speaker A
So, I was in the US, uh, one of the first days of filming. So, I used to be a big fan of Entourage, you know.
Speaker A
Yes, dude. I just watched that this year and it's based on hand. Who do you think, what character do you think you are?
Speaker A
And I did this challenge. So, it was a dumbbell like this, just way bigger, way bigger than this even. Uh, it was 90 lbs.
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I was told that I should be very careful. So, I had my thumb like here and then I turned it like that.
Speaker A
And then it crushed my thumb and the thumb was just bent kind of the wrong way. I panicked and with having a lot of adrenaline, I kind of put the thumb in place and I was, I asked if someone could
Speaker A
drive me to the hospital. All right, Magnus, what just happened? I just broke my thumb. I crushed it with a, uh, dumbbell dumbbell. Uh, flipped it and it landed on my thumb and it was like bent completely the wrong way.
Speaker A
So now, now he's going to the hospital. Going to the hospital. Yeah. I just want to say it wasn't my video.
Speaker A
It was someone else's. Yeah. I don't care whose video it was for though. I don't, I don't blame anyone but myself. So it happens, man.
Speaker A
My brother said this. Best of luck. I'll see you tomorrow. Yes. Anything you need to tell me? Seriously.
Speaker A
Yeah. I live here. So yeah. Thank you. And, um, I, I, I mean I thought it was broken, but I was like hoping that it might have been just dislocated even though I could hear the snap of the
Speaker A
finger. Like I heard it break. But after scanning my thumb, they said that it's completely broken like clean off. Um, and that I actually did a pretty good job of putting the thumb back in place. I was also a little bit afraid like going to
Speaker A
the hospital in the US. I've heard so many horror stories of people getting charged a lot. Luckily though, I had travel insurance. That probably saved me a few thousand. So, when I finally got home, I decided to go to a Norwegian
Speaker A
hospital, uh, to get it checked again and see if they had sort of the same conclusion. And I was super nervous to hear what the doctors had to say. I still had no idea if I needed surgery.
Speaker A
And if I needed surgery, it could take even longer before I could climb again.
Speaker A
Okay. Um, one year. So after he said that, my mind just went silent. I just completely zoned out and I didn't hear anything else he talked about. All I could think about was all the videos we had planned. I was planning to get
Speaker A
back in shape competing again possibly. All that just went down the drain when I heard one year.
Speaker A
Okay. Oh yeah. Yeah. Luckily though, he mentioned that possibly I could climb after only 3 months, but I would have to be super careful and definitely cannot like full pinch or anything.
Speaker A
So, at least that was nice to hear that I don't have to wait completely like I don't have to wait one year to even get on the wall. But, uh, it's probably going to take a full year before I can
Speaker A
pinch 100% on my left arm or left hand again. So, the first cast I got on my hand after coming back from the US was huge. It covered my wrist. I couldn't use any of my fingers. So, I kindly
Speaker A
asked, uh, if I could get a smaller cast for the remaining 3 weeks, and luckily they said yes. It's hard to even describe how much better this feels, the small little cast compared to the big one that was like super itchy. I also
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got a new appointment in 3 weeks from now, uh, September 17th. So, that's the day before my birthday. I have my birthday is 18th. So, I might be able to take the cast off completely in three weeks from now, the day before my
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birthday. I'm going to do what I can to stay fit and at the same time be super careful. Yeah, if I was a little bit younger and dumber, I think I would just kind of ignore the advice a little bit
Speaker A
and try to climb as much as I could, but it makes no sense. Uh, now I just want to make sure that in a few months from now, I'm going to be completely normal. My thumb is healed and I can do
Speaker A
whatever I want. Basically, the interesting thing about some like when you break a bone is that it doesn't really heal in the first like 10 days or at least that's what Chachi PT said. It first like prepares to heal. So, the
Speaker A
first 10 days the bone is still not attached. It's not any stronger than it has been, which is a little bit demotivating 'cause I thought like, okay, every day now it gets stronger and better and it's it is healing. But
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that's not really true or at least according to Chachi PT. And I think it's also going to make me appreciate like being healthy and strong again when this eventually heals. When I start climbing again, I'm probably going to
Speaker A
have like a, like new motivation. In many ways too, I think that maybe it's good to give my body a break from climbing. I am though I am gonna climb with one hand. Uh, I'm doing that today actually.
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I got to be careful though not to get too excited and do something stupid.
Speaker A
Still early in the healing process. So doing something stupid now would be very stupid. Not even sure how I'm going to put on my shoes. The thing is now I, I am able to use my left arm a little bit.
Speaker A
Actually wonder if there's a size difference between my arms. I usually don't flex on camera, but now to see. So this is 2 and 1/2 weeks ago. Um, the accident is two and a half weeks ago.
Speaker A
See if there's any difference between my right and left arm. I don't know. Now there's someone looking. It looks weird to flex like this. It actually hurts my thumb a little bit too when I'm flexing. It's almost like using all the muscles, but I
Speaker A
don't know if you see any difference between the left and the right arm. Hopefully not. I was looking at this. It might be way too hard to start on, but it is a slab. So hopefully maybe not.
Speaker A
You. That's
Speaker A
Okay. Not uh Definitely not the intended way, but I do kind of want to use my left arm, even if it's just like 5 kilos, pulling a little bit in with the left arm, but I just have to remind myself it's not
Speaker A
worth it. It's definitely not worth getting injured again. I'm definitely not a patient person, though. Like, everyone who knows me can testify to that.
Speaker A
Okay, here's another one. I got to be careful. I feel like I'm already too like excited about this.
Speaker A
Yeah, something like that, I think. Yeah, to me the top doesn't look so bad.
Speaker A
So, if we can only do that first move. Okay. I didn't even think of that. Down climbing even is pretty tough. Also, a fun fact about the injury is that the nail the nail on the thumb on my injured
Speaker A
thumb has not grown at all. Like I've had to cut the other nails two times and I haven't had to cut the nail of the injured finger even once and uh I used chachi and asked it why that was and it
Speaker A
said that it's normal when you break something um that it takes a while for the nail to start growing again. said something about like it being traumatized or something, which sounds dramatic, but I guess I guess it is. This one I can
Speaker A
actually match. I don't think I'm going to be able to do that. I can probably see a lot, but then what?
Speaker A
It's a weird way of thinking like I have to think in a completely different way.
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solving a problem or root. It's so natural with two arms and now it's kind of like I don't know my brain is not working that is a little bit too hard. If I just do that move though I can definitely do
Speaker A
it. I try it one more time. Not really sure what to do from here.
Speaker A
Um, so if you guys have any tips or tricks on how this possibly could heal any faster, if there's any like alternative medicine, anything out there that could help me, uh, please let me know. And, uh, also, please help me come
Speaker A
up with video ideas I can still do with one hand, um, climbing related or not. This channel is not only about climbing anymore, which makes it a little bit easier now that I'm injured. Thank you for liking and
Speaker A
subscribing and all that and I will do my best to get back as quickly as I can.
Speaker A
Thank you for watching and I will see you in the next one.
Topics:Magnus Midtbøclimbing injurybroken thumbclimbing recoveryclimbing accidentclimbing traininginjury rehabilitationclimbing motivationclimbing challengesclimbing health
