Tuesday 11.13.12

Hand Care - Part 2: Treatment

Alright, so you made it through a workout, you did your 50 pull ups (or 30 or 100, whatever) and your hands are ripped. What now?

1) Wash your hands with soap and water. Unfortunately this isn't going to feel so awesome at first, but it's completely necessary. You have to keep it clean.

2) There are some different schools of thought on whether or not to cut the torn skin off, but here's what I reccommend: leave it on for the first night, then cut it off the second day. After your hands are washed and have completely dried, apply some antibiotic ointment under the skin flap to kill bacteria and promote healing. Keep it covered overnight so that it's protected.

3) The next day, wash your hands again and cut off the skin flap. Be careful when you do this - cut too high on the tear and all of a sudden this little stinging sensation and spot of blood comes up that has the same effect as a paper cut: its so tiny that you feel like a complete baby for thinking that it hurts so bad, but it totally does. And for goodness sake, use a pair of little scissors or nail clippers. I speak from (painful) personal experience: trying to tear it off yourself without any tools does NOT work.

4) Now, apply vitamin E oil. You can get it at just about any drug store. They sell vitamin E lotions or just the straight up oil. The oil is really great for keeping the wound moisturized and for the next couple of days as the skin grows back, it will have a tendancy to be dry and brittle, which makes the tear feel more painful and heal slower. Keep the vitamin E oil on it consistently, and if you don't have vitamin E, use antibiotic ointment. Leave it uncovered from here on out. Most folks have found that the sooner the rip hits open air, the faster it will heal. 

If you take good care of your tear, it should be pretty much healed in about a week. 

Strength:
10x2 deadlift

WOD
3x400m sprits, rest 1:1