It's Lovely at the Top

Allison Stowers, PT, DPT, sums up the value she offers her fellow rock climbers with an anecdote.

"I had an injured climber say to me, 'It was the second move from the top on Osiris — that gaston where you're pulling up to the top hold." Another PT might have asked the patient to kindly speak English. Stowers, however, not only fully understood the sentence, but also could envision the site and draw from her experience in treating the injury.

Osiris, she knew, is a boulder "problem" that's graded V10 on a scale that runs from V0 to V17. It's located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where Stowers treats climbers at Peak Fitness & Physical Therapy. A gaston is a type of grip in which the climber uses one hand with the thumb down and the elbow out to maintain friction against a hold by pressing outward toward the elbow.

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