So Your Hands Are Busted

HAND RIPS; RIP CAUSE AND TREATMENTS


If you look at Havalah's hands, you can see she just got finished with her workout, and surprise surprise there were pullups in the workout. A lot of pull ups in the workout. Is there nothing you can do for your hands from looking like this when you have pullups and heavy hang cleans in your wkout?

Yes! There are several ways to prevent, or at least minimize rips and tears on your hands. In the crossfitjournal article number 68, Phil Salvage a gymnast coach from Knoxville TN, he explains that there are two qualities that make you hands susceptible to ripping. Your chances increase a lot of you've got either a) soft hands with little or no callus build up, or b) too much callus buildup that makes bumps or ridges on the surface of your hands.


(from Phil Salvage's crossfit journal article #68)
"Once you get a rip (photo 5), the healing and maintenance process must begin immediately. If you happen to have fairly thin calluses and thus the ripped skin is fairly thin as well, I suggest that you carefully pull the hanging skin off by pulling on it directly away from the point at which the skin is still attached. If the skin is stubborn and not easily detaching, get some small nail clippers or small scissors and carefully cut as much of the skin as you can away from its point of contact. If the ripped skin is very thick (heavy callus), wait until
you can use nail clippers or scissors to remove the loose skin. When my gymnasts get a rip, I usually remove their dead skin myself almost right away (I’ve had 35 years of experience with this tricky situation). Then I have the athlete wash their hands with soap and water (yes, this stings) to remove any blood and other impurities and cleanse the area of possible bacteria. After washing, we apply an antibacterial ointment (Neosporin), which also acts like a lubricant to replace the lost natural skin oils that were washed away in the cleansing
process. As I always tell my athletes when they get ready to go home, remember to do three things before you go to bed that night:
1) Wash your hands with soap and water one
more time.
2) Apply a generous amount of Neosporin to the
fresh wound.
3) Cover the wound with a small bandage or tape.

This will allow the Neosporin to do its job overnight to keep the area moist and prevent infection.
Oftentimes, if the hands are exceedingly well-callused and the rip is deep, I have my athletes also wear a glove on the hand (over the bandage and all). When you wake up the next morning, go ahead and wash your hands. Next, again apply a generous amount of Neosporin. If you have vitamin E oil handy, use it instead of the Neosporin (photo 6). I’ve found that vitamin E oil
does a wonderful job in healing the wound quite fast. You can purchase vitamin E from any drugstore that sells vitamins. It comes in the form of gel capsules or just plain old oil. I prefer the gel capsules. Just break one capsule open, squeeze the oil out, and apply it to the ripped area (photo 7). Do not cover the rip from this point forward. I have found that the sooner you expose
the new skin to the open air, the more quickly it’ll heal and more quickly you can return
to normal training."

MY WOD;

January 12, 2009

Monday 090112
For time 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, and 5 rep rounds of:
Virtual shoveling [wmv] [mov]
Pull-ups
With an Olympic bar holding only one plate (men use 45 pound plate, women use 25 pound plate), touch the plate on one side of the barrier then the other for one "rep." Barrier is 24."

rx'd; 16:53.