If you have been CrossFitting for awhile, you undoubtedly have developed some thick skin on your hands. Unfortunately, even with perfect care for your calluses, when we have a big pull-up workout, like Angie yesterday, those calluses can tear (As many folks did). Today I want to talk about what to do when you get a tear.
Damn You Angie!!!
Tears come in a couple of different forms. When you are first getting your calluses established, the tears are shallow, and look a bit like a blister that has come off. You take away the top few layers of skin leaving the lower, fresh layers. As your calluses get deeper and deeper, the tears tend to produce some blood, and a good chunk of you left on the bar. No matter which type of tear you have, they are not fun, and need to be properly cared for.
First things first, if you get a tear, once you have finished your workout, clean the tear out as best as you can. Tears seem to get infected more easily than other wounds (maybe because of their location?). Keeping them clean is paramount. Once the tear is clean it will need to be properly dressed. If you do a bit of googling, you will find many different ways to treat and dress a tear. I have personally tried quite a few of these and what I have found to work best for dressing a callus tear is a product called “Lanolin Hydrous”. Think of it like Neosprorin on steroids. It squeezes out of its tube very very thick, and softens up a bit as you work it between your fingers. Spread a dab of this on the whole tear area and any hard callus skin left on your hand. This will keep the callus from drying out and cracking (Trust me, you don’t want cracking!). You will then want to cover it with a bandage. I really like the Band-Aid “Tough Strips” they have stronger adhesive which works better on your hands skin which flexes all day long.
You’ll want to leave the tear covered for a day or two so that it can begin to heal. Once this begins to occur, I like to alternate between a few things. I will rotate between having the tear covered, and uncovered, with and without lanolin. I want the tear to air out a bit, but not dry up enough to crack. So, I will put a dressing on it in the morning, and then take it off for part of the afternoon. If this is not convenient for you, super gluing can also work pretty well. Stay away from liquid bandage, the sting of it in a tear will send you through the roof!
Of course we still want you to come in and get a workout while you have your tear, so we have a few options for you while you are in the gym. We have a selection of gloves (this is the ONLY time that we endorse the use of gloves in the gym) or we can wrap your hand with tape. Grab some tape and talk to Beth or I about the best way to wrap for your specific injury.
If you have any further questions about how to take care of your tear, feel free to post up here, or email me: ryan@wccrossfit.com.
Watch the blog for an upcoming tutorial on how to avoid this all together.
-Ryan
<edit> Erica from the 6pm class has another ointment she says works better than my Lanolin, it is called Tamanu oil. It is available at Pharmaca. I have not used this product, so I cannot comment on how it works, but Erica swears that her rips heal faster with this stuff. If you have used it, leave me a comment and let me know what you think! Thanks Erica
