Rips

[Supportive_Mum]

Hey gymnasts and gymnastic mums I need some first aid tips for my darling daughters ripped hands. I have no clue what to do but realise that they need toughening up. Do I dress them or leave them to dry out? She is in pain and won't train on them. How can I tape them? Is there a you tube? Omg going to look now. Help, please!

 

[GYM0M]

There are different philosophies. I have had success with keeping the hands soft. The trick is to prevent the rip. While she's in the tub, let her hands get pruny. Then rub a pumice stone gently in calluses and across the palm. Follow up after bath with a good moisturizer.
For the boo boo, use hemorrhoid cream.

 

[COz]

I used those big bandaid brand band aids that are really thick and promote healing have kind of gel stuff on them.
Our coaches wanted them dried out, but I whacked these guys on at night and took them off during the day they healed really quickly.

Edit: and I just let the coaches do the taping, I have no idea

 

[auswi]

If you do a search on CB under rips there a lot of old threads with great ideas - good luck

 

[Ausi_poppet]

There are two parts to managing rips: preventing and treating. You're at the "treating" stage. Our coach clips the loose skin and then dabs metholated spirits on the rips. They seem to heal pretty quickly, but it's definitely an old school method of treatment. The kids will then tape them under their guards and go back to work, or if it's really bad, move on to loops for the night.

Once home, we just let the rips air dry as much as possible and try not to rip again - not easy when the kids train 6 days a week.

The best way to prevent rips is for the kids to look after their callouses. In the shower after training, they should rub their callouses with a pumice stone and if there are any sharp bits clip them back with nail scissors. We have a tub of salt scrub from the Body Shop that is great too. My daughter will regularly scrub her palms with this after her shower to not only rub down the callouses but deeply moisturise the skin. The chalk really dries their skin out, so you have to be careful to rehydrate the skin but not make it too soft so it rips again.

 

[Hollowarchkick]

Rips are caused by the skin drying out and having small cracks. The cracks rip and cause the skin to tear. As a younger athlete, I kept my skin very dry and had many rips. After doing some research, I realized that wasn't the best approach. I used vitamin E for prevention and Chapstick when I did get rips. The skin needs to be trimmed or torn back as much as possible and the Chapstick should be used almost constantly.