Claw Hand

If there is an activity that cyclists are not meant to do, its rock climbing. On Sunday, fresh from my Laundry Workout Session, I had the chance to give it a go. As part of work activities, we hit Rocksports Indoor Climbing Centre at the Valley.

I’ve done it in the past, and generally only tackled the easier climbs. This time, rather than wasting what little upper body strength I have at the beginning on the easy climbs, I decided to take on the harder, cliff hanger, Mission Impossible – style climbs.

I conquered them all (with relative ease), and my forearms didn’t even cramp once. However, when I got home and opened the fridge to take a swig of milk from the bottle (as all men should), my fingers locked up.

My hand was cramped into a claw-like pose and I had to press my hand against the counter to stretch them out again. For the next couple of hours, I had limited dexterity in my hands and my fingers continued to revert to the claw pose as I tried remove clothing, open door handles and brush my teeth. Interestingly, if you Google 'claw hand', you will find that it is an actual medical term!