T Nation

How To Heal Shins From Deadlifting?

Powerlifting
#1

As the title says fellas, I scratched open a very small amount of skin at the top of my shins, but it still made a mess in my socks. (good thing I had my tube socks on and a handy towel to wipe the barbell, otherwise I would have gotten kicked out. Its Ballys)

I won’t be Deadlifting again until next week, so I won’t re-open the cut or anything anytime soon. However, I would like some tips on how to make the skin heal faster.

So far all I’ve done is clean the wounds in the shower, pour alcohol on them, and put some Band-Aid over them.

Any tips appreciated fellas,

#2

I used to scrap the shit outta my shins.

I think if you just play around with your form you can stop hitting your shins all together. Thats what I did and I don’t have a problem anymore.

There really isn’t much you can do to aide in your body recovering from scraps like this.

If you want to, wear shin guards, you know the things soccer players wear. Or wear longer socks.

#3

I would keep the wound clean using soap and water. Use a good triple anti-biotic for the first couple of days, but make sure to let the wound air dry as soon as it starts to heal. If you keep it covered the entire time with a bandaid and anti-biotic on it, it will actually slow the healing because it will be a moist environment.

You should be fine by next week. Bloody shins are part of the game. You can get some DL socks for the future if it really bothers you.

#4

wear longer socks.

your going to scrap ur shins anyhow.

get used to it being sore/raw!

some of the o-lifters I know put tape over their shins but that sometimes might not work

#5

Using Neosporin or bacitracin or some similar kind of thing should help it heal up a bit faster. As Modi said, do this for a couple of days but then make sure to let it get some air. If you’re missing any of the skin you can use something like Newskin or even super glue to seal up the cut. Don’t use super glue if the cut is very deep. Works great if you need to reattach a flap of skin.

Remember that scar tissue tends to be a bit softer than surrounding skin so it’s going to be easier to rip them open the next time.

#6

stop standing so close to the bar

#7

[quote]brunottfn wrote:
stop standing so close to the bar [/quote]

Hopefully that’s a joke.

#8

To keep from reopening the wound next week 2 good options are use soccer shin guards or cut out a piece of plastic from a 2 liter bottle and slide it between your shin and your sock.

Are you pulling sumo? I don’t have any rubbing on conventional pulls just sumo.

#9

Thanks for the tips fellas!

I am pulling conventional, I haven’t tried sumo. (However, I’ll start learning to pull sumo some time in the next few months) I never had this problem when I was deadlifting back in May and earlier. But the week before I used a bar that was too knurled and I didn’t have tube socks on. Needless to say my shins got scratched bad and scar tissue formed in the following days. Then yesterday I used tube socks to my knees and a bar with a long smooth area, but it was too late. It ripped the the scar tissue open.

Right now there is no skin, but it healing fine (no red area around the wound) and its dry. I don’t have enough $$ to spend on shin guards, but I will cut some plastic bottles next time as suggested.

thanks again

#10

Baseball socks help, but my shins have looked like a mangy dog’s ass for three years.

#11

http://www.badgerbalm.com/pc-14-2-healing-balm.aspx

They carry this stuff in a rock climbing gym I used to go to. Now I was always skeptical, but a lot of the guys would swear by it to heal their hands after a tough day on the rock.

Finally gave in, and I have to say, it’s the only thing I’ve found to make a difference in how fast I heal. Give it a try, you can find it in a lot of granola type health food shops. Or order it online…

#12

The only thing that I scrape is my quads and I start my pull with the bar almost touching my upper ankle. Maybe try standing with your legs a little closer together.

It’s got to be something with your form.

#13

[quote]Pinto wrote:
Baseball socks help, but my shins have looked like a mangy dog’s ass for three years.[/quote]

Agreed.

I wonder how many people who recommend pulling with 2 liter bottles or shin guards have ever actually tried it.

In my experience it’s a horseshit deal and doesn’t work unless you literally duct tape them in place because they just become something the bar grabs and moves. It’s distracting not that effective.

Get some knee length socks. That’s about the best you can do.

My wife laughed last weekend after somebody asked me what the scabs were from. She said that if I ever die in an accident and my face is obliterated she will just have to look at my shins and knees to ID me.

#14

[quote]beebuddy wrote:
The only thing that I scrape is my quads and I start my pull with the bar almost touching my upper ankle. Maybe try standing with your legs a little closer together.

It’s got to be something with your form.[/quote]

Two of the most technically sound sumo pullers we have scrape the shit out of their shins.

Two main reasons. 1. Body type. Very upright pulling styles. 2. Very flexible hips and an excellent ability to start a pull with their hips down and very close to the bar.

It pisses me off when I read posts like these. There are just so many people on this site with incredibly shallow knowledge of training. Next thing you know somebody is going to throw in a Wendler or Tate quote.

#15

[quote]apwsearch wrote:
I wonder how many people who recommend pulling with 2 liter bottles or shin guards have ever actually tried it.
[/quote]

I used shin guards for several years when I was pulling sumo for powerlifting. You still need the knee high socks to go over them. I would even take them to the meet and warm up with them and then do my 3 pulls without them. I might get a little scratched up on the three pulls but I was starting healed skin. I figured if even subconsciously I was concerned about tender shins it might change my form to be less efficient.

If the bar is getting caught on your thighs you can wear sweat pants. In a meet since you must wear a 1 piece uniform with the area above and below your knees uncovered most people use baby powder on their thighs so the bar slides easier. You’d have a hard time using baby powder in a most gyms with the mess it causes. You also need be careful about not getting the baby powder on your hands because if will make you grip more difficult.

#16

Man I used to pull with an okie deadlift bar and that thing would fuck my shins up every time. I would pack the bloody holes in my shins with chalk while training. Looking back on it, that probably wasn’t the best idea.

After a while your shins should scar up and not bleed so much. For now I would buy some of those real cool knee height tube socks like your old uncle wears. You know, the ones with the two red stripes. Good luck and PULL HARDER!!!

#17

What I did for this problem was take a washcloth and fold it in half, place it over my shin and tape it down going around my shins on the top and bottom with good quality athletic tape. I would then use Adidas soccer socks and then pull them up and over my covered shins which hid the taped down washcloths.

This added double protection because if you are using a good deadlift bar that is supposed to have good knurling then it will rip right through the soccer socks anyway.

I did this for training and competing and never had a problem with bleeding shins or in USAPL or AAU powerlifting rules.

#18

[quote]Seattle_Lifter wrote:
apwsearch wrote:
I wonder how many people who recommend pulling with 2 liter bottles or shin guards have ever actually tried it.

I used shin guards for several years when I was pulling sumo for powerlifting. You still need the knee high socks to go over them. I would even take them to the meet and warm up with them and then do my 3 pulls without them. I might get a little scratched up on the three pulls but I was starting healed skin. I figured if even subconsciously I was concerned about tender shins it might change my form to be less efficient.

If the bar is getting caught on your thighs you can wear sweat pants. In a meet since you must wear a 1 piece uniform with the area above and below your knees uncovered most people use baby powder on their thighs so the bar slides easier. You’d have a hard time using baby powder in a most gyms with the mess it causes. You also need be careful about not getting the baby powder on your hands because if will make you grip more difficult.[/quote]

That’s cool. I have tried it a couple times, as have some folks we train with and we always end up ripping them off and just saying fuck it. They are too distracting.

#19

hum… I give a try to the cut plastic bottles, I might even elaborate a little, use 2 socks and tape plastic down.

I’ll see how it goes…

#20

Do kickbacks instead, they have been shins savers to me.