wrists, rips and bar burn

[sheplaysinthechalk]

Just looking for some suggestions...

My dd's team recently ordered grips. I opted not to get in on it - didn't order grips for her. BUT

dd is regularly getting bar burn on her wrists and occasionally even getting rips on her wrists (below her hands)...I know it's completely normal for hands to rip, but wrists?

I've tried wrist bands (the regular kind that the gymmies wear with grips) but they don't help. Pre-wrap with athletic tape works pretty well, but she's telling me that she feels slippery and is more confident w/o the tape.

The coaches let her use some grips on occasion (grips that they had from an order that was incorrect) - they aren't dowel grips, and not knowing anything about grips, i don't know if they are necessary 1, and if they are her size 2.

Now, dd is not a complainer - she will work on bars, through the bar burn and up until she's either ripped or bleeding (or both). So, this isn't really about her looking for something to help - it's me, wondering if this is totally normal. Should I just leave it alone and let her continue to rip and callous? Her hands are pretty calloused up - which is fine, and not the issue. But her wrists don't seem to callous and just continue to make it difficult to continue on bars because the coaches make her stop bars when she rips or bleeds...

any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[mariposa]

Ouch. Your poor little girl. I have never heard of wrist rips except for on girls that use grips. I don't know advice to give. I don't think grips are good for her at such a young age. She is only 4 right?

I wonder if maybe she grips the bar too tight, causing so many rips? If she has little hands and is training on middle/stride circle, front hip, etc, maybe her hands are too small and she is fearful of falling so she grips the bar super tight, which would cause more rips?

On her wrists, I honestly don't know. I can't even see my DDs wrists touching the bar when she does stuff.

Maybe since she is training with team and still so small, if she is using the regular size bar, it is too big for her? I would maybe post this question in the coaches section. I have never heard of wrist burn or rips before.

Hope someone has a solution for you. Rips are part of gymnastics, but yikes. I definitely see my DD getting less rips since I read on here about putting Bag Balm on her hands and filing/sanding with pumice down her callouses. Have you tried that? It might help with the hand rips. Good luck.

 

[gymgymgymnast08]

What kind of skills is she doing? I didn't get rips on my wrists until I started doing giants.

 

[sheplaysinthechalk]

mariposamama, she finally turned 5 a couple of weeks ago!!! It was a pretty big deal! She was funny.


she's mostly doing level 4 skills - front hip circles, dismounts, shoot through, mill circle...

she's also doing squat on's and practicing kips, but her kips are with a spot. she's doing lots of tap swings and practicing level 5 dismount from low bar, and lots of cast-away to glide-swing to touch toes close to the bar. And they are always conditioning...pull ups, leg lifts, skin the cats, jump to front supports, among other things...

other than that, she's been working on handstands lately - with spot, of course...




But it's not really that her hands are ripping that bad...it's her wrists. She's had 4 or 5 rips on her hands - ever. She's getting them on her wrists all of the time, though. Pretty much every week...

 

[mariposa]

Ack. I forgot. Sorry. I remember your post now.

I really have no idea about her wrists. I think you should ask the coaches. That has to hurt awful bad because the skin there is so sensitive. Abby practices all those things and she has never had any issues with her wrists.

 

[canadiangymnast_eh]

I used to get rips on my wrists all the time but what I have tryed (and i havent riped since) is i tape like cosmetic/make-up pads on the places that i rip. I dont mean like the little cotton ones, like the actual foam ones. I find this helps and i reuse them a lot. I find these are a lot softer than pre wrap or foam from the pit so they dont rub.

 

[maddiekate]

The only time I ripped on my wrists without grips is with front hip circles. To make it around and end up on top you have to put your hands under the bar, which leaves your wrists on the bar while you flip over. It's not really a big deal. Tape should help, not sure why it feels slippery if it's not on her hands, but you could try the neoprene wristbands. For me it was just a front hip circle thing, once she has that perfect, she should be able to get her wrists off the bar.

Watch, in the front hip circle, she switches her hands around the bottom bar. That's when your wrists rub on the bar.
[youtube]XonYyYNRPMM[/youtube]

 

[gymdog]

It's probably from starting to do more glide and tap swings, I'd guess, it might be an adjustment. Wrist rips are usually from where the wrist part of grips rub - your wrist never really touches the bar. If the tape around her wrists is fairly tight, I can see why she would feel "slippery" as she puts it because a couple of layers of tape before they loosen up can really impede flexing the wrists which the natural position in front support, and with a small child I would guess the lack of weight would make it take longer to loosen up. We used to use plastic wrap (under the wristbands and grips) with a layer of tape around it but it never stays for the whole rotation.

Has she been working on strap bar? You mentioned starting tap swings and glide swings and kips and tap swings are sometimes trained on strap bar in the early stages. This can also lead to wrist "burn" and rips. Whenever I do strap bar, I always get a lot of broken blood vessels and slight scrapes on my wrists. Sometimes if a gymnast has a rip, they will go to strap bar, because it is easier on the hands.

 

[mariposa]

i looked at the answers again on the thread and saw abby in the video and was soo confused. i don't even know how to post videos INSIDE a post. LOL. then i realized maddiekate had done it. LOL.

 

[gym4life915]

Have you seen the ten-0 rip busters? They should help, but they might not make them in a small enough size.
Link Removed

 

[Lizzy]

Thanks gym4life915, I was wondering if you know if there are grips for the hands and palms with the same materials as the ten-0 rip busters? Because I have ripped through grips before and I've asked coaches if they know of any grips that would help with this but they don't. Anyone know? =)

 

[gymdog]

Thanks gym4life915, I was wondering if you know if there are grips for the hands and palms with the same materials as the ten-0 rip busters? Because I have ripped through grips before and I've asked coaches if they know of any grips that would help with this but they don't. Anyone know? =)

No, there are no neoprene grips. You can't really fully prevent ripping though. Some people's hands adjust (I haven't had a rip in like 7 years, L7 was terrible for awhile but then I just never ripped again at some point). Actually most people's hands adjust to swinging more but some still keep getting occasional wrips, blisters, etc. Usually two big adjustment periods in my experience are going from the more support based bar work to working on tap swings and kips (and the many, many attempts in each turn/rotation that go along with that) and working on giants (ditto). it's worst the first few turns, after you swing a little your hands warm up and it doesn't hurt as much. In my opinion anyway. The worst is in the morning when it's really cold going to bars first, even without rips it always hurts until your hands warm up.