Parents bruises from grips

[alleigh2007]

My daughter just started using grips--double buckle with dowel. She is getting bruises on the top of her hand in the area between her pointer and thumb. The coach seems to think the buckles are hitting her hand there but I don't think that's possible. Any ideas about why she might be getting these bruises? Thanks for your help!

 

[Seeker]

What age/level is she? What skills is she doing? Those sound like a pretty high powered pair of grips right out of the gate.

 

[alleigh2007]

She is level 4 working level 5 skills. These are the only grips her coaches will allow. She is able to do all the skills but gets these bruises. It might be helpful to know when they use the strap bar to work on giants she is also getting bruises on the tops of her hands.

 

[NutterButter]

My DD had lots of bruising from strap bar. She also has had bruising from grips which went away quickly. I think it happened when she had new grips or started new skills (it was a awhile ago so I don’t remember). She recently started bars after a 3 month break and got the same bruises again.

 

[MILgymFAM]

I didn’t think the grips sat on the top of the hand between the fingers and the thumb. The grips go from the wrist up the bottom of the hand to the fingers. I think I’m misunderstanding where she is bruising?

 

[skschlag]

I agree with mil....my ds gets callouses and rough spots on his wrists, just past his thumb, but not usually on the top of his hand.

 

[Flippin'A]

Do her grips have a bulky wrist strap that sticks up above the buckles like the picture I attached? I actually used to have a similar issue way back in the day where a pair of grips I had like this would dig into my hand every time I bent my wrist back too far on something like a cast handstand or a giant. Double check with her coach that the grips aren't too big, which could be contributing. As long as they're the right size I would recommend getting the longest, fluffiest wrist bands that you can find. She can pull the up a little bit higher and give herself some padding while her hand adjusts and toughens up in those spots. That's what I did and it seemed to work. Good luck!

 

[tucktwisttumble]

Nope nope. This happened to me. I used the exact same pair of grips as a level 4.
It is exactly what @Flippin'A said. She probably has tiny wrists (like me) and they might bend past 90 degrees to the arm. When the bulkyness of the buckles dig into the top of her hand, causing bruising.

I personally was able to tough it out - and eventually the tissue in my hands toughened and I stopped bruising. But maybe ask her coach for a single buckle?

It will get better if she does work through it. But I guess it depends how uncomfortable she is.

 

[sce]

Does she wear wristbands? Can she pull them up higher on her wrist/hand. Or she is not tightening them enough to keep them down on her wrist?

 

[alleigh2007]

Thanks for all the replies! She is still bruising but is now saying is doesn't hurt as bad. She does have very small wrists and her wrists do bend past 90 so I think that is what is happening. She does seem to be getting used to them.

 

[3gymgirlsmom]

My dd has the same and refuses to use hers, we ended up bringing them home to break them in and when they are broken in she will bring them back and work , at this point it may be after season , but she has also gone 2 seasons of level 4 without them since her hands are smaller she waited and since she is doing a 3rd level 4 season (in her defense she had only done 3 meets the first season and due to having cancer she only competed 2 partial meets last season )

 

[3rd_time_around]

Velcro grips.

That's all my daughters ever used. They hated the buckles. I still don't see how they can be adjusted to fit properly with pre-made holes, but that's just me.