There were approximately 44.5 million climbers around the world in 2019. With that number rising, the amount of injured and/or rehabilitating climbers also increases. One of the most common injuries suffered by rock climbers are pulley injuries. A pulley injury occurs when a tendon pulley (A1 to A5) in the fingers is overloaded with too much weight and ruptures. This severe type of injury typically has a recovery time of 3 months: therefore, it makes sense for climbers to actively train toward preventing these kinds of injuries and have a solid rehabilitation plan in case they get injured.
Enter CLIMB! CLIMB (Climbers Ligament Injury Mitigation Band) is a minimally invasive wearable device meant for wear during climbing or hangboard sessions that works to mitigate the occurrence of pulley injuries. The device uses force sensors to measure the distribution of force across your fingers and alerts a user at risk of pulley injury to stop via vibration motor. The device is embedded into a standard crack climbing glove, with a microcontroller bracelet at the wrist that publishes force data in real-time to the accompanying app on your smartphone. Through that app, you can calibrate the feedback on the glove, see analytics on your last session, and track your history with live suggestions toward preventing injury and making your climbing a lot safer.
