Chalk - help or hurt?

[hannahsmom]

My dd is a Level 4 and working hard on her bar routine. She still tends to "muscle" some skills and it is causing some rubbing/chafing areas on her hips where the bar sits. Her gym does not allow bar shorts. Would it help if she put chalk right on her hips or does that actually make it worse? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[hannahsmom]

Forgot to add....the areas on her hips are open wounds that require band-aids after each rotation on the bars, so my concern about chalk put directly on the wound is infection. However, if that is the best way to eliminate the chafing, we might have to do it.

 

[nicci1999]

I always chalk the hip/thigh area and found that it helps b/c it does increase mobility around the bar. Also making sure that there is enough chalk on the bar itself and it isn't all clumped up helps as well. And the skin does toughen up as well, at least it did for me, and I think it's safe to assume that that is the rule and not the exception

 

[10.0]

It might help in a normal situation but I would not advise putting chalk on open wound of any kind, the chalk bucket is a petri dish of germs, MRSA is just one of the common things found in a lot of gyms and you don't want to end up with that. I would seriously ask the head coach if they could make an exception and allow your dd to wear tight fitting shorts until the wound heal then try the chalk.

 

[coachmolly]

I would ask the coaches if they could make an exception and let her wear shorts until the wounds heal, no sense risking her getting anything in there that could cause more serious problems. After the current wounds heal have her try putting chalk on the affected areas to see if it helps.

 

[Kiwi]

I've found chafing to be caused by rough clumps of chalk left on the bar. It might help if you can get the rough areas removed before using the bar.

 

[hannahsmom]

Thanks for the replies! I will talk to the coach tomorrow morning and see what she thinks. She has had a couple days off, so maybe they will be closed by tomorrow morning. But, infection was my worry as well. Thanks again...we'll see how it goes!

 

[BlairBob]

Gym tape over the bandaid. Encircle the entire leg.