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Make or Break: Don't Let Climbing Injuries Dictate Your Success
As Wolfgang Gullich said, “getting strong is easy, getting strong without getting injured is hard”. Sooner or later, nearly all climbers get injured and it will be injuries that ultimately dictate how far you get in climbing, if you let them. Unfortunately, the data shows it takes over a decade just to get small proportions of medical research adopted in regular practice. Sourcing reliable and up to date advice on preventing and treating finger, elbow, shoulder and other climbing injuries is challenging to say the least. You need to be the expert, because there are so many strands of knowledge and practice to pull together to stay healthy as a climber, and no single source of advice to cover all of these. The book draws together both the cutting edge of peer reviewed sports medicine research, and the subtle concepts of changing your climbing habits and routine to prevent and successfully recover from injuries. It is a handbook on how to take care of yourself as a lifelong climbing athlete. By spanning the fields of climbing coaching, physiotherapy, sports medicine and behavioural science, it goes beyond the general advice on treating symptoms offered by sports medicine textbooks and into much more detail on technique and habits specific to climbing than the existing climbing literature base. You will learn how your current climbing habits are already causing your future injuries and what you can do to change that. If you are already injured, it will prevent you from prolonging your injury with the wrong climbing habits and rehabilitation choices. You will learn how the ingredients of prevention and good recovery come from wildly different sources and how you have been using only a fraction of them. Fully referenced throughout, the practical advice for diagnosis, rehabilitation and prevention of climbing injuries is drawn from up to date peer reviewed sports medicine research.
216 pages, Paperback
First published February 10, 2015
32 people are currently reading
370 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 22, 2017
Absolutely essential for all serious climbers even if you haven't been injured (yet!).
Covers all the main injury zones of Elbows, Fingers, and Shoulders, along with the causes of injury, what to do to fix it, and how to avoid it in the future.
A fair bit of the information in this book is available online but I find a lot of it isn't clear or can be contraindicatory. What Dave MacLeod has achieved is condensing it all in one place and effectively presenting the facts in a readable way using his background in Sports Science and the latest research available.
The book might seem a bit pricey but in the context of the price of not using climbing wall subscriptions or cancelled trips away due to injury it is certainly worth it.
Covers all the main injury zones of Elbows, Fingers, and Shoulders, along with the causes of injury, what to do to fix it, and how to avoid it in the future.
A fair bit of the information in this book is available online but I find a lot of it isn't clear or can be contraindicatory. What Dave MacLeod has achieved is condensing it all in one place and effectively presenting the facts in a readable way using his background in Sports Science and the latest research available.
The book might seem a bit pricey but in the context of the price of not using climbing wall subscriptions or cancelled trips away due to injury it is certainly worth it.
February 21, 2020
To tape or not to tape, that is the question. Placebo effect cause it looks sick? What the hell is h-taping. Also found out the little ball of liquid near my a1 pulley is called tenosynovitis, which basically is an irritation of the flexor tendon sheath that leads to an overproduction of synovial fluid. It’s sometimes ouchie. Kinda confused why the synovial fluid is so low given that I had previously torn my A2 pulley, so there would be little contact between the associated scar tissue and the lower flexor tendon region. Maybe they rub against each other while crimping...Also gotta make sure to minimize lateral rotation of the fingers while crimping or something will pop again. Does that mean less moonboarding? Damn. More icing and rice bucket exercises in the meantime.
March 16, 2022
I didn't read this book cover to cover. It's a decent reference that I'll return to when I need it.
While there's a lot of good info here, this is by no means a replacement for medical advice! I found the most useful chapters to be on the importance of warming up for injury prevention, general mental attitude/fortitude and approaches to climbing, and how to cope with injury from a psychological perspective. Many of the exercises provided are fairly basic so anyone with chronic or serious injuries should definitely seek out the help of sports medicine professionals. In my opinion, it's not enough to go to any orthopedic doctor or physio - you need to find someone who understands the unique needs of climbing/bouldering and who understands your goals specific to the sport.
Overall, I think this is a great book for climbing newbs, but if you've been in it for a while and are already nursing chronic injuries or even just niggles, you will probably be doing a lot of nodding and saying 'tell me something I don't know' while reading this. As I mentioned already, the chapters dealing with the psychological aspects of injury recovery were definitely the most helpful to me.
While there's a lot of good info here, this is by no means a replacement for medical advice! I found the most useful chapters to be on the importance of warming up for injury prevention, general mental attitude/fortitude and approaches to climbing, and how to cope with injury from a psychological perspective. Many of the exercises provided are fairly basic so anyone with chronic or serious injuries should definitely seek out the help of sports medicine professionals. In my opinion, it's not enough to go to any orthopedic doctor or physio - you need to find someone who understands the unique needs of climbing/bouldering and who understands your goals specific to the sport.
Overall, I think this is a great book for climbing newbs, but if you've been in it for a while and are already nursing chronic injuries or even just niggles, you will probably be doing a lot of nodding and saying 'tell me something I don't know' while reading this. As I mentioned already, the chapters dealing with the psychological aspects of injury recovery were definitely the most helpful to me.
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October 6, 2025Good read, I learned a lot, probably good because there are some things I didn't want to hear but had to hear and at least now I know. Let's just hope I hold onto that.
I appreciated section 5 about the psychology of injuries, the mental aspect is often overlooked and too often we tend to just focus on the physical aspect of injuries.
Not 100% comprehensive but obviously that's hard to do and he does list a bunch of resources for further reading.
Weird to hope that I won't have to read it again because I will clearly never get seriously injured... oh well, a girl can dream.
I appreciated section 5 about the psychology of injuries, the mental aspect is often overlooked and too often we tend to just focus on the physical aspect of injuries.
Not 100% comprehensive but obviously that's hard to do and he does list a bunch of resources for further reading.
Weird to hope that I won't have to read it again because I will clearly never get seriously injured... oh well, a girl can dream.
September 10, 2022
Detailed, structured and lot of references. A go-to for any serious climber
March 25, 2019
This is an incredibly well-researched and nicely compiled collection of reference material and information on climbing injuries, prevention, and treatment. Super informative and well-written. Highly recommend for any serious climber.
January 13, 2020
The writing is entertaining (especially given the subject matter) which makes reading through it a breeze. It presents an interesting overall outlook for dealing with climbing (and other sport) injuries, as well as a lot of pointers for further research. Has a good balance of general info and specifics.
December 11, 2020
Amazing climber, and all round great bloke. But this book is pretty impenetrable. The advice is often circular or equivocal, and the research quoted feels cherry picked. I think Dave knows how to get the best out of Dave, bit his advice for the general climber is of limited use.
April 5, 2023
Much like Dave's excellent Youtube channel, Make or Break contains concise, informative passages laid out clearly and with excellent prose.
This is a must read for any climber - indeed, any sportsperson who uses their arms. Brilliant!
This is a must read for any climber - indeed, any sportsperson who uses their arms. Brilliant!
February 12, 2018
Comprehensive and working out pretty well so far!
January 19, 2021
Largely anecdotal in parts with some older theory but as an all in one climbing injury guide for the non-clinician it's pretty much perfect
December 8, 2022
Exhaustively detailed resource for climbing injury prevention, and rehabilitation.
May 31, 2023
Very useful for chronically injured climbers such as myself.
February 1, 2024
Essential for anyone into climbing. Gives tips on best practice and injury rehab for all possible injuries. Author is a veteran climber with an evidence backed approach to rehab.
October 9, 2024
Excellent reference to have on hand if you're a climber
March 12, 2025
Somewhat outdated, but an excellent reference and overview of climbing injuries.
April 19, 2015
Pretty good book targeted towards life long climbers. This book talks about common climbing injuries, how to prevent them, and how to recover.
A point made throughout this book is that you really should go see at least one specialist if you think you are suffering from injury. Many doctors are not familiar with climbing injuries and, as a result, it can be useful to see more than one. You should also take responsibility for your healing by reading as much as possible and try to become an expert on the injury.
MacLeod is generally a proponent of active recovery. If you end up taking off months for an injury you often come back and try to climb the same volume or difficulty too quickly which results in more injuries. By staying active you reduce your backslide and can actually help injuries heal better. He admits this can be a hard process as their is pressure to perform.
The book is split into a few sections. There are chapters on each major area of injury (hands, elbow, lower body, shoulder) along with general prevention and diagnoses sections. There is even a (short) chapter on younger climbers and the different types of problems they can face.
I underlined and marked so many passages in this book. My copy is full of bookmarks. There are so many sections to go back and reread and absorb. I'd recommend this book to any climber.
A point made throughout this book is that you really should go see at least one specialist if you think you are suffering from injury. Many doctors are not familiar with climbing injuries and, as a result, it can be useful to see more than one. You should also take responsibility for your healing by reading as much as possible and try to become an expert on the injury.
MacLeod is generally a proponent of active recovery. If you end up taking off months for an injury you often come back and try to climb the same volume or difficulty too quickly which results in more injuries. By staying active you reduce your backslide and can actually help injuries heal better. He admits this can be a hard process as their is pressure to perform.
The book is split into a few sections. There are chapters on each major area of injury (hands, elbow, lower body, shoulder) along with general prevention and diagnoses sections. There is even a (short) chapter on younger climbers and the different types of problems they can face.
I underlined and marked so many passages in this book. My copy is full of bookmarks. There are so many sections to go back and reread and absorb. I'd recommend this book to any climber.
December 26, 2020
If I'd have to define this book in a word, it'd be 'essential'.
Dave MacLeod provides a really useful and straightforward approach to injuries from a western medicine perspective but getting rid of the symptomatic-based approach to physical problems so frequently seen in western countries. However, he acknowledges the work of health-related professionals and doesn't present himself as some expert in injuries, rather as an experienced athlete with useful advice for injury prevention and awareness, what makes this book so valuable.
I don't give it 5* because besides going really into detail for common climber injuries, it doesn't explore or give a straightforward rehab methodology for this common injuries, which I'd have found quite useful. Still, this is an essential book for climber with injuries, but even more for climbers without injuries!
Dave MacLeod provides a really useful and straightforward approach to injuries from a western medicine perspective but getting rid of the symptomatic-based approach to physical problems so frequently seen in western countries. However, he acknowledges the work of health-related professionals and doesn't present himself as some expert in injuries, rather as an experienced athlete with useful advice for injury prevention and awareness, what makes this book so valuable.
I don't give it 5* because besides going really into detail for common climber injuries, it doesn't explore or give a straightforward rehab methodology for this common injuries, which I'd have found quite useful. Still, this is an essential book for climber with injuries, but even more for climbers without injuries!
April 1, 2024
If you are a climber, then this is a must-have reference book. Insights into the body parts used for climbing, and the way to heal them if injured, is above others I have read. A must have.
April 20, 2016
Excellent book for people planning to take climbing seriously. Helps you keep on top of your body and interpret the signals its sending you. Clearly written with lots of practical advice. Unlike doctors, doesn't include the advice "maybe try a different sport."
March 1, 2016
A diamond in the rough.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews