The soaring popularity of rock climbing stems from the challenge of conceiving and completing routes of increasing difficulty. Separate routes on the wall are often graded by difficulty, but fluctuations in this delineation exist for different facilities and thus a standardized system can provide a more accurate and enjoyable experience for climbers. This project takes an image taken of the cli...

The purpose of this review is to explore existing research on the physiological aspects of difficult rock climbing. Findings will be categorized into the areas of an athlete profile and an activity model. An objective here is to describe high-level climbing performance; thus the focus will primarily be on studies that involve performances at the 5.11/6c (YDS/French) level of difficulty or highe...

BACKGROUND How to improve patient safety remains an intractable problem, despite large investment and some successes. CONTEXT Academics have argued that the root of the problem is a lack of a comprehensive 'safety culture' in hospitals. Other safety-critical industries such as commercial aviation invest heavily in staff training to develop such a culture, but comparable programmes are almost ...

OBJECTIVES To determine if rock climbing is a significant factor in the development of Dupuytren's disease in men, and, if so, what is the most likely related factor. METHODS Questionnaires were distributed to all 1100 members of the Climbers' Club of Great Britain. These detailed basic information about the climber, the presence of Dupuytren's disease, and any known risk factors for its deve...

OBJECTIVES To determine the frequency of overuse injury in indoor climbers, the common sites of such injury, and the factors that influence the probability that a climber will have sustained an overuse injury while climbing indoors. METHOD A semisupervised questionnaire was used to survey overuse injury in 295 spectators and competitors at the Entre-Prises World Climbing Championships held in...

The potential benefits and risks of physical activity before and during pregnancy are not well studied. We studied the relation between recreational physical activity and the risk of preeclampsia in a case-control study of 201 preeclamptic and 383 normotensive pregnant women. Participants provided information about the type, intensity, frequency, and duration of physical activity performed duri...