Calluses from the horizontal bar: how to get rid of them and how not to rub them?

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Every CrossFitter moves on to serious workout movements at some point in their development, be it weighted pull-ups or muscle-ups. All these complexes put a huge load on the hands and, in particular, rub the palms, which can cause calluses from the horizontal bar to form. How bad is this and what does it affect? Should they be treated or left as is? You will get answers to these questions in the article.

General information

Calluses on the hands from the horizontal bar are a normal phenomenon and cannot be completely eliminated. They arise as a result of skin friction against the metal surface of the projectile.

Rubbed skin goes through three stages:

Painful detachment. Occurs immediately after the end of the approach. Essentially, you are rubbing the skin and peeling it away from the blood vessels, causing damage.
Formation of the primary crust. During the regeneration process, the body strives to restore the integrity of the skin, rightly considering the detachment of the upper layer as an injury. It sends lymphocytes to the damaged and inflamed area. At this stage, the damaged area often causes severe pain, which prevents full training.
Secondary crust formation. In fact, this is already a completed callus. During the regeneration process, the body grows normal skin under the damaged area. The top layer undergoes keratinization.

During training, the stratum corneum becomes thicker, and the normal skin underneath partially loses sensitivity. However, calluses are an unsightly cosmetic defect and if too much force is applied, they can rupture, causing serious damage to your hands.

Types of damage

The faster a hematoma forms, the more difficult the recovery. Injuries of this type are divided into:

lungs that develop within a day, accompanied by mild pain and not requiring special treatment;
moderate severity, the appearance of which requires no more than 5-6 hours, accompanied by noticeable swelling and pain, worsening the motor function of the limb;
severe, forming within 2 hours after a bruise, accompanied by dysfunction of the limb, acute pain and noticeable swelling.

Treatment of moderate and severe hematomas should be carried out under the supervision of a physician to eliminate possible negative consequences of injury.

In addition to the severity of the damage, there are other criteria for classifying hematomas:

by depth of location - under the skin, under the mucous membrane, deep in the muscle tissue, under the fascia, etc.;
according to the state of spilled blood - uncoagulated (fresh), coagulated and lysed (filled with old blood that is not capable of clotting);
by the nature of blood distribution - diffuse (blood permeates the tissue and spreads quickly), cavitary (blood accumulates in the cavity between the tissues) and encysted (over time, the cavity filled with blood is surrounded by a “bag” of connective tissue);
according to the condition of the vessel - pulsating (blood flows freely from the vessel and flows back) and non-pulsating (the rupture of the vessel is quickly sealed by a thrombus).

Almost always, hemorrhage poses a health hazard, so to eliminate its consequences, you need to seek medical help immediately after the injury.

How to avoid?

Is there a universal way to avoid calluses from the horizontal bar? Alas, such a method does not exist! Sooner or later, calluses will appear, no matter how hard you try. However, if you follow expert recommendations, you can slow down the process of their formation and reduce the likelihood of serious damage.

These are the tips:

Use a technique in which the effect of friction will be reduced to zero.
Use gloves or pads.
Tape tapes.

Changing technology

Changing your technique can help reduce callus formation. In the case of pull-ups, you need:

Change the position of the brush. The grip should be carried out with all 4 fingers. Try not to use a reverse grip.
Rigid fixation of the hand. Do not rotate it, do not jump on the projectile. The less you can rotate your hand, the less calluses you will have.
Increasing pressure on the horizontal bar. Try to squeeze it as if you were working with a rigid resistance band. This will reduce the friction effect, but will make the pull-up more difficult.

Of course, these tips won't help you with kipping or butterfly pull-ups.

Using gloves

The best way to remove calluses on your hands from the horizontal bar is to practice using gloves. Of course, if there are calluses, then gloves will not help get rid of them forever. In addition, it is not recommended to exercise in gloves with already torn calluses. However, the right motorcycle or sports gloves provide a good grip on your palm - this reduces friction and therefore prevents the formation of calluses on your hands.

It is better to use gloves not only for the horizontal bar, but also for free weights, in which the friction on the barbell is no less than when doing pull-ups.

Horizontal bar and magnesia

There is a common myth that using magnesium reduces the likelihood of calluses. This is fundamentally wrong. Magnesia is needed only to increase the coefficient of friction between surfaces.

This allows:

Do not drop the barbell during the approach.
Don't fall off the horizontal bar.
Reduce wrist rotation.

However, due to an increase in the coefficient of friction, any rotation of the hand on the projectile will be accompanied by the formation of calluses and a deterioration in their condition. Therefore, magnesium is not used during exercises such as:

exit by force;
ring push-ups;
rotation "sun".

Calluses from the horizontal bar

After the first sessions, regardless of their intensity, characteristic blisters appear on the palms. This is due to the fact that to perform the exercises, a strong grip is required, in which part of the palm is pressed between the horizontal bar and the fingers, and as it moves, it rubs. Over time, the skin in these places becomes rougher, you acquire masculine palms and a strong handshake, confidence and clarity appear in your gaze, and life gets better.

Callus care

If you are very bothered by calluses on your hands, you can try to get rid of calluses from the horizontal bar using folk remedies. As practice shows, they are more effective than pancreatin and other healing drugs from the pharmacy.

Method	How to cook	How it works
Aloe juice	Squeeze juice from aloe. Wrap the remaining pulp in gauze. Apply the resulting product to the damaged area and secure it with a bandage or adhesive tape.	It has a pronounced anti-inflammatory effect, allowing to reduce the intensity of keratinization of the upper layer of skin.
Oak bark decoction	Boil the oak bark over high heat for at least 60 minutes. Then let the resulting broth cool. Moisten gauze in the resulting liquid and wrap your hand with gauze.	Has a regenerative and anti-inflammatory effect.
Potato	Finely chop the raw potatoes to a pulp (a garlic press works great), apply the resulting mixture to your hand and secure with a bandage or plaster.	An effective healing agent.
Onion pulp	Similar to potatoes.	Allows you to deal with already keratinized skin and painlessly rip off the callus.
Garlic	Similar to potatoes.	Similar to onions.
Propolis	Apply pharmaceutical propolis in a thin layer to the damaged area, then secure it with a gauze bandage. In the morning, carefully scrape off the exfoliated areas of skin.	Softens the stratum corneum and has an anti-inflammatory effect. Helps reduce sensitivity of damaged areas.

Examination methods

To diagnose hematomas, you need to contact a traumatologist. When the hemorrhage is localized deep in muscle tissue, joints or internal organs, a visual examination provides too little information for the doctor to objectively assess the severity of the lesion and the degree of danger of injury. In such situations, the patient is prescribed:

Ultrasound of a damaged body part, organ or joint;
X-ray of the damaged part of the body;
CT or MRI;
puncture (puncture with a special needle) of a joint or organ in which blood is believed to have accumulated.

Based on the examination results, the doctor prescribes appropriate procedures.

What to do if the callus has already been torn off?

If you are faced with a situation where a large callus has already been torn off, you need to:

Immediately stop the training process.
Treat the damaged area with an antiseptic.
Apply an adhesive plaster to the damaged area
Treat with peroxide at home.

In addition, you will have to stop training for some time, even while wearing gloves. Because even in protection, the hand will still sweat, and sweat, getting on the damaged area, will corrode it and interfere with further healing. If you continue to train, a real scar may form at the site of the callus.

Callus or wart?

A wart is a small growth that is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Calluses and warts may be similar in appearance. A wart can be distinguished by its more granular structure and location (warts can appear on any part of the body). To accurately make a diagnosis (callus or wart) and select treatment, the surgeon can conduct a dermoscopic examination and additionally prescribe a test for human papillomavirus (HPV).

What are the types of calluses on the hands and the reasons for their appearance?

There are several types of calluses , differing in structure, causes of appearance and methods of dealing with them:

dry - are formed as a result of prolonged friction, characterized by low intensity of movements;
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This type of callus can most often form in connection with a person’s professional activities, sports or hobbies.
dropsy – appear during intense activities accompanied by excessive friction. They are characterized by the accumulation of fluid under the skin, which provokes subsequent rupture of the callus, accompanied by pain. Long-term resorption is possible in the absence of additional mechanical contact;
The formation of water calluses is more common in people with delicate and sensitive skin, with increased sweating. Also when wearing shoes that are too tight, uncomfortable or hard. Long-term work with a tool (during digging the ground, working with a saw, peeling vegetables, in a bathhouse, using brooms without mittens) can cause the appearance of calluses.
rod – have a root system that goes into the skin and causes deep damage.
If left untreated, soft water callus degenerates into a dry variety. Over time, under the influence of the fungus, when the skin is injured, a rod grows deep into the tissue.