Advise w/DD's hands

[hannahsmom]

My dd is 7 and a L4. She has had a lot of trouble lately with callouses and open areas on hands. We've been doing the vaseline and socks at night, as recommended by our owner/HC, but it doesn't take much for them to open back up. I know that the kids kind of have to do this and build up good callouses, but what do you do in the meantime when they are just sore? Unfortunately, she gets most of these from the monkey bars, not necessarily at the gym. I asked her to stop the monkey bars for a little while so I can see if they will heal up, but she loves the monkey bars....loves to hang from anything. I feel bad asking a 7 year old to stay off the monkey bars because of gymnastics. Her gym does not believe in the palm protectors and they don't incorporate grips until L5 and the kip and even then, they tend to hold off on the grips for the smaller girls (for some reason...I'm sure it's a good reason, I just don't know the reason). DD has one week until her gym's annual in-gym camp, so it will be even more time on the bars and I don't want her to miss out on any of the bar time because of her hands (bars are her favorite event). I tried to talk to her about how to ask her coach "like a grown-up" about whether she needs to have her hands taped or just what and she tells me that her coach tells her they don't have any tape. I find that hard to believe, so either there is a misunderstanding or the coach doesn't think she needs it. So, what else can I do in the next week to help heal her hands and even though I would find it very hard to believe that they don't have any tape, should I send her to camp with a roll of her own, just in case? If so, is it just the normal white athletic tape?

 

[bogwoppit]

Mine doesn't use grips, in fact very few girls do at our gym. They do get used to the bars and their hands do toughen up.

My girls will use a pumice in the bath to file down the callouses, if they build up they can rip badly. Making sure the rips are clean is important.

We use handy balm on theres, bag balm or polysporin is good too. They also sleep with socks on.

Cooling the hands down between turns on the bars can help, because a rip is basically a friction burn. Ice packs are great for this.

Metal onkey bars are really a poor choice as they really warm up their hands. My youngest has been playing on them a lot lately and her hands are quite ugly.

Our girls will put on tape if they have a rip, we don't want blood on the bars!

 

[gymdog]

Typically it is the responsibility of the parent to purchase the tape, and for the gymnast to keep it in their grip bag. Sometimes I have odds and ends but otherwise they have to borrow, because I really don't have any. Some gyms sell it, but either way most coaches don't have much of it at their disposal. Most gyms are not going to provide tape to tape the hands every practice. It is just the white athletic tape. You can get it at some stores. For the purpose of taping hands one roll should last awhile.

 

[CreateMagic]

Although she loves the monkey bars, explain to her that it is making her hands worse, and that with camp coming up, maybe she should just stay off them this week. At 7, she is old enough to understand that.

We also do not supply tape generally. We have a few rolls around for the odd tape job (like a rip), but if its consistent, then we ask the parents to send in a roll and keep it in their bag or cubby. Its not too expensive if you're buying it for one kid, but it gets pricey to keep it stocked for everyone.

 

[UnoMas]

Hey there.

My older DD is 9 and a L5 and has been dealing with rips on her hands since she was a L2. In fact she had a huge one that opened up right before her bars routine at state meet this past March. My younger DD is a 6 and a L4 and has never had any trouble with rips at all. Our gym does not allow grips until L6.

Anyway...I highly recommend investing in rolls of tape and writing DD's name on the outside of it. We send rolls of tape in DD's gym bag and then people "borrow" it and we never see it again. We used to use the white athletic tape but we have recently found some thicker, softer tape that comes in different colors at a sporting goods store. It is more expensive but it seems to stick better and also give some extra padding to the hands for working the bars. It really made a huge difference for DD's hands, they seem to heal quicker with the "squishy tape" and she can work bars with less pain when she has big rips.

As far as the monkey bars goes, I try not to let my daughter do anything like that when she has rips on their hands. This is mainly because she LOVES bars and hates to miss bars practice (when their hands are bleeding they are "off" bars for that day usually). So I just remind her that if she tears her hands up outside of gym it is going to be no fun when she has to do conditioning during bars!

Good luck!

 

[CreateMagic]

Anyway...I highly recommend investing in rolls of tape and writing DD's name on the outside of it. We send rolls of tape in DD's gym bag and then people "borrow" it and we never see it again. We used to use the white athletic tape but we have recently found some thicker, softer tape that comes in different colors at a sporting goods store. It is more expensive but it seems to stick better and also give some extra padding to the hands for working the bars. It really made a huge difference for DD's hands, they seem to heal quicker with the "squishy tape" and she can work bars with less pain when she has big rips.

Great suggestion-- writing the name on the tape! I second that idea.

 

[All Chalked Up]

I buy hockey tape which works very well. You can go on bars with it on (though the tape protects the rip, don't let her expect for the rip to be pain free) Use the plain white because it is the strongest. It is tempting to get the pretty coloured/designs on them though! It's not too badly priced, I think something like 2,16$ for a decent sized roll.

 

[hannahsmom]

Typically it is the responsibility of the parent to purchase the tape, and for the gymnast to keep it in their grip bag.

Thanks! I didn't know that. I've just seen the coach taping other girls, but didn't even think that it was tape brought in by the gymnast. I guess you're right that it would get kind of expensive to supply for every gymnast! haha Thanks again.

 

[hannahsmom]

Although she loves the monkey bars, explain to her that it is making her hands worse, and that with camp coming up, maybe she should just stay off them this week. At 7, she is old enough to understand that.

I guess you're right. I've always felt like I hated to ask her to give up something like the monkey bars because of gymnastics, but you're right that she is old enough and smart enough to make the decision on her own, if I explain it that way. Thanks!

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

Really, I've always been a terrible ripper. The only thing that has helped me was getting palm-guard type grips, and later dowel grips. Before I had grips I would just have to bandage my hands up each day during practice, often having to replace tape during bars. I would run at least two rips on each hand at any given time, and I often did strength during bars rather than swinging barwork since I was good at bars and did well at meets despite not being able to practice my routine. Even now that I have grips my hips and calves rip pretty frequently, hips from doing casts and cast-handstand, and calves from kips (exacerbated by being a bad shaver). My toes rip on beam, too, occasionally.

I would have your DD tape her hands before bars or before practice/camp each day. If she gets a bunch of new rips or her hands are excessively painful, she could sit out bars for a day and do strength training instead, which is of course beneficial in the long run. Or she could train mostly non-ripping skills like casts or shoot-throughs. She could be the first L4 to cast to handstand at your gym!

 

[hannahsmom]

Or she could train mostly non-ripping skills like casts or shoot-throughs. She could be the first L4 to cast to handstand at your gym!

Haha...she'd like that! The only thing better than bars is any move that involves her being upside down on her hands, so to be able to combine the two would be "heaven" for her! Her hands do break down pretty easily, so I think she'll probably be one of the kids that will struggle with this as she continues. She even had a tear/callous on her wrist....still can't figure out how she got that one!

 

[cher062]

my dd uses "Bag Balm" on her hands you can get it at most pharmacies like CVS, Brooks, Walgreen etc.
Its doesn't have the most plesant of smells but it works really well and has an anticeptic as part of it too so it helps with pain etc. We will put it on at night and DD will wear white cotton gloves over hands (I suppose socks would work too) because it helps hid the smell and helps keeps the cream where it belongs.. During practices my DD usually will tape her hand or wear what is called an Under grip to protect rips in her hands.

It looks like this

 

[staceyb]

Try toughening her hands up with surgical/methylated spirits, I used it on my hands when I was a gymnast and on my feet when I moved to dance.