Hand Care

[johnmac]

Watching Mark's video's the other night it reminded me our critical the health of our hands are when big walling. I carry a small "hand care kit" that is separate to my first aid kit in the top pocket of the haul bag so I can get to it during the day. The idea is to fix things before they worsen...


• Ibuprofen 600mg tablets (Prescription)
• Small nail clippers
• Nail Board File
• Nu Skin (like superglue but safer)
• Climb On bar
• Wet ones
• 1” tape

Does anyone else use New Skin. I find it works pretty well for covering up small cuts and cracks around finger nails, etc. Stops air getting at them and hurting... Wears off fast but it helps. Dermabond works better but is really expensive.

http://www.walgreens.com/search/results.jsp?Ntt=new+skin

[mungeclimber]

good insights.

Haven't used the nu skin, but I have kept those items in my day bag with food stuff for the day. Usually the wipe down with the wet ones occurs at night before fooding it up.

[mhudon]

I had half that stuff up there, John. I'll make sure I have the other half next time!

(I'd add some Neosporine to John's kit)

[johnmac]

The other thing to check out is a pair of mad rock full fingered gloves. These things are so soft and easy to wear that if your hands were really sore, you could climb in them all day!

http://www.madrockclimbing.com/products/product.asp?_item=100032

[Mike.]

Apply a good hand cream nightly as a preemptive measure. Getting cracked fingers to heal on a wall is a painful bitch, so I try to have them never crack to begin with. The dry air does a number on my hands (and inside my nose), so I use the moisturizer liberally in advance.

Nightly I also trim down every single small loose cuticle and loose strand of finger skin with a nail clipper. Those micro flappers of dead skin, given the chance, will peel back into more major flappers from shoving your hands into the rack, the haul bag and everything you grab into.

And don't cut your nails too short. This enhances separated nails. Leave a little nail there for protection.

yessir, Wet Ones for regular cleaning.

I have 1/2" waterproof tape on hand for finger detail. Athletic and duct tape just don't do the job of this stuff. The generic brands as I've experienced are often not as good as the J&J.

A finger splint isn't a dumb thing to have on hand. The bend-able aluminum/foam ones are light and small. Even trim down a small piece of one you could tape on a bad joint.

[lambone]

cleaning your hands and putting some moisturizer on goes a long way toward preventing them from getting fucked.

they make topical ibuprofen cream too.