Gymnastic Rips...Would you do this ?

DON'T LURK... Join The Discussion!

Members see FEWER ads

G

gymnasticcoach

When i came to coach in another country, the coaches were applying magnesium carbonate (gym chalk) directly onto an open hand rip/wound regardless of the size of the rip and have the gymnast continue to train.

I have put a stop to this practice by the way.

Has anyone ever heard of this ?

I prefer to use the vitamin E solution

Thanks

Don
 
No, I have never heard of that.

In our gym we get the girls to wash their hands well with soap and water, apply a bit of vit E ointment (not cream) and then tape it. I can't imagine putting chalk can help, I would also be concerned if the chalk was shared by other people, bacteria can spread so easily!
 
Omgosh chalk in rip makes me /shudder. I've used vitamin e in rips, but my old coach used to break out the big guns on the bleeders. Preparation h. I ripped once and it bled like a stab wound, he cleaned it up, put some prep h on it, gauze, and a bandage made from athletic tape. He said it shrinks blood vessels and makes the bleeding stop. It worked really well. He didn't tell us what it was for a long time thinking we'd freak out. It worked so well there was no reason to, we just called it 'butt squeeze' instead of prep h.
 
yes, i do that as long as the rip isnt TOO big... if you're still doing bars, the chalk makes it not hurt so bad when it rubs against the bar. (i dont like taping my hands because then i cant feel the bar as well and i feel like i dont have enough control.) i guess it's probably not the best idea for health reasons...
 
My girls continue to train on bars as usual (most do not wear handguards) when they rip.

Gymnasts have to be tough both physically and mentally, if they cannot cope with some pain in their hands they will never survive in the sport!!
 
My girls continue to train on bars as usual (most do not wear handguards) when they rip.

Gymnasts have to be tough both physically and mentally, if they cannot cope with some pain in their hands they will never survive in the sport!!


You know a lot of our girls do gymnastics for fun!!! :p We are not an elite gym by any stretch of the imagination, so we do not use the same philosophy of pain and survival.

We prefer to have rips that may bleed on the bar, clean, covered and not posing an infection risk for other gymnasts and coaches.

Our girls mostly do not wear grips either.
 
It sounds like to me that they are using the chalk to clot off the bleeding and give the gymnast grip without using tape. I would be wary because of things like community acquired MRSA, or Staph. :eek:

Liz
:nurse:
 
Yeah, you made a great point there bogwoppit, it really does depend on what your girls aims are, if they are elite they should really 'suck it up' but if they are rec they probably might be a bit teary and tape it up!

It all depends on the personality of each individual gymnast too!

I have one girl who would absolutley refuse point blank to stop bars if she got any size of a rip, but I know others who would cry if they stubbed their toe!!
 
I've never actually tried this- but heard it works really well.... You know those things you put on your foot to remove corns ? You put that little circle over your rip & then just tape it up and its fine.
 
Being a nurse, I've wondered about the possibility of gymmies spreading staph & MRSA through the use of community chalk buckets. Does anyone know of any research or any documented cases occurring in gyms due to community sharing of chalk buckets:confused:
 
I've always put chalk in them. Generally--I'll have them run and clean it out then rip the flap of skin off. If they still have bars left for the day I'll have them put chalk in it and continue. If it's really bad then I won't have them do that--generally I'll have them be done for the day. Then, when they come back the next day I usually have them put chalk in it and go. The chalk helps dry it out and not hurt so bad--I always did it as a gymnast.
 
DD's coach gets the girl a damp tea bag (warm or cold) and makes her hold it on the rip for a while. I think the tanins in the tea helps with the pain and dries it up faster. Luckily, DD has never had a really bad rip, but that may change soon as her coach is starting to train her for giants.:eek:
 
Being a nurse, I've wondered about the possibility of gymmies spreading staph & MRSA through the use of community chalk buckets. Does anyone know of any research or any documented cases occurring in gyms due to community sharing of chalk buckets:confused:

No but I got a staph infection through a rip-like open blister on my foot after a night at the gym (never got any more rips on my hands after a tough year at L7). Took awhile for me to figure it out...I couldn't walk on my foot and thought I somehow broke something without knowing it but the pain had developed through the night. It doesn't take long for the infection to spread and less than 24 hours later when I went in they were already worried about it spreading to my lymph nodes or something (I'm not sure exactly what).

This was several years ago before the big MRSA outbreaks though.

My advice...open wounds NEED to be covered in the gym. It doesn't really matter whether you're an elite or not, not taking reasonable steps to prevent infections that spread up the bloodstream is not "sucking it up" it's just not smart. They'll have to take time off waiting for an infection to heal if it comes to that. It's not that hard to tape it appropriately and continue, or use strap and floor bar training systems until it dries the next day. I think coaches should be aware of the infection risk and act accordingly. It might never happen but it's so not a big deal to take the preventive measures in the long run that I can't see why you wouldn't. Maybe that's just me though.
 
The nurse in me says Ewww. Never. DDs coaches will cut off the skin flap if any, wrap and tape the hand. I think I need to put some BandAid no ouch antiseptic spray in her gym bag so she can disinfect her wound before getting it covered. I would definitely not let her just put chalk in a brand new rip. Ick and ouch. I also wouldn't want her hanging on bars with kids that were bleeding on it.
 
Bleeding rips, typically 2nd or 3rd layer typically means the gymnast is done and should go get it cleaned up while I clean the area. I worked at a city gym so we had to be meticulous about things like that.

I have heard of trying to stop some of the bleeding by using the chalk as a coagulant to soak up the blood. If you are bleeding that badly, why are you on bars making it more bloody.

For first layer rips, we can some ointment or goop and put on some tape grips and what not underneath the grips.

If a gymnast rips and is done for the workout, typically I prefer them to not cut out the skin but tape it over the rip as it will protect the rip from drying out a bit. This skin will eventually lose it's moisture and come off easier. We need to give time for that ripped area to protect itself. As well, we need to later make sure it doesn't dry out. More goop.

Depending on how much more bars are to be done and the severity of the rip ( as well as their ability to handle it [ think 5yo vs 10yo vs 15yo ]) will determine whether they are done or not. If they are in season, it almost things they are done on bars or apparatus. This is a real pain with the boys as there is 4 events with hand apparatus.
 
My kids do bars at the end of the night (well, before conditioning) so that if they do rip, theyre done using their hands anyway!

Must be a bit trickier for MAG coaches though!!
 
I've never actually tried this- but heard it works really well.... You know those things you put on your foot to remove corns ? You put that little circle over your rip & then just tape it up and its fine.

i do this all the time with my girls, or something like it. i get an inner soul from a shoe and cut it into a donut shape to fir around the rip and then out tape over it. doing this you can't feel the rip when your on the bar. so the rip can be cleand and the gymnast can keep going.

another thing we do is get the gymnasts to put a hot tea bad on the rip when they get home, it dries out the skin to stop it from ripping more, stings alot butit worth it.
 
I guess I have been lucky throughout the years - after the kid gets their first rip or two they just suck it up and do bars anyways. We make them a little tape grip and they just keep going. Bloody rips I leave it up to the gymnast (after they wash their hands)! I like the sole of the shoe idea and those little wart pads are a REALLY good idea! I think I'll invest in some of those.
 

New Posts

DON'T LURK... Join The Discussion!

Members see FEWER ads

Gymnaverse :: Recent Activity

College Gym News

Back