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Thread: Boil on Right Thumb - Possibly caused by Hook Grip failure

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
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    Default Boil on Right Thumb - Possibly caused by Hook Grip failure

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    For the record, I’m 38 years old, 5’11”, 242 lbs.
    I’m nearing the end of my NLP, on an Advanced Novice programming with frequency reduction, getting ready to transition to General HLM at some point when I stall out on the lifts.

    I recently got what I would definitely call a boil (essentially a large, painful, pus-filled bastard) on the underside (print side) of my right thumb. Since I have never had a boil on my thumb, or anywhere else for that matter, I am wondering how I got it. I am curious whether any of you have ever experienced this in connection with your training and what you would advise if/when it occurs.

    I am speculating that the formation of this boil had something to do with my most recent deadlifting session. I was doing a PR set of 183kgx5x1, using hook grip and taping my thumbs. In taping my left thumb I had run out of tape on that spool and opened up a packet of fresh tape to use for my right thumb. It turned out that the tape on this new spool was of a slightly different make and texture than the other. I hadn’t anticipated this when I was ordering the tape and they didn’t seem different just by looking at them. (Same color, size, length of spool, etc.) I didn’t perceive a great big difference between the two kinds, but the new tape was a little smoother, a little less adhesive, and gave less traction/grip. Frankly, it’s shittier tape.

    On the way up on Rep 5, my right thumb slipped out of the hook grip. This had never happened before and I scarcely thought it possible. Strangely and miraculously I thought, my right four fingers were still able to hang onto the bar up until lockout. I was also able to set the bar down without dropping it. (I say lockout because my body made it up to lockout position. Technically I suppose it must be considered a failed rep because the bar didn’t actually travel 100% of the way up its path, since my right hand’s fingers sans thumb were holding the bar in a position lower than that of my successfully hook-gripped left hand. Thus the bar was not completely horizontal at the top; it was tipped over slightly to the right.)

    I don’t remember any pain resulting from my thumb slipping out, aside from the usual pain/discomfort that comes from using hook grip: the pressure you put on your thumbs, which you can get used to, and has been no big deal for me, especially since it’a only 1 set of 5.

    So, I didn’t think much of this incident until a couple of days later, when I perceived an itching and irritating feeling on the underside of my right thumb. Over the next couple of days it started to inflame and grew sensitive to the touch. I realized it might be a boil when I could see some pus through the skin. During this time it also seemed to travel from the right underside if my thumb to the left underside, and there was also a bluish-green color under the left side of the cuticle adjacent the site of inflammation, suggesting necrotic tissue or bacteria down in there. In my experience it was acting sort of like an ingrown nail, but there’s no reason to suppose my thumbnail would be ingrown. The swelling continued and the resulting pain was getting extremely uncomfortable, especially since it was in a much-used part of the body, which constantly rubs against things and is needed for all kinds of tasks, from buttoning your pants to typing on a spacebar, not to mention doing a deadlift. It throbbed, burned, and stung.

    (Full context: Coincidentally I was pausing my training due to a back tweak that turned into sciatica, and the SS Coach who I consult recommended that I take a break until the sciatica calmed down. So at the time the boil developed I was not training, but would not have dared handle the bar and heavy weights with this boil on my thumb anyway.)

    Once the boil got quite large and “ripe,” a friend suggested that I lance the boil myself. I took a needle to it, squeezed out most of the pus, disinfected it with rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide, and bandaged it. I have repeated this process several times since, minus the needle-pricking part. Small amounts of pus continue to leak from the area, and it is healing. The greenish area in the cuticle also went away, and instead there is whitish tissue there, which suggests that it was necrotic tissue that has been replaced. It has been four days since I lanced the boil.

    I have not trained since the boil developed. I don’t want to compromise my grip on the bar on any of the lifts, I don’t want bandaids slipping off while I’m training, I don’t want to get chalk and sweat in the sore. I also don’t want to stop bandaging and cleaning it regularly until I am sure all the fluids will drain from it; in other words, I don’t want it to scab over without being fully drained, and then possibly just grow again.

    The only explanation I can come up with for what happened is that the mashing and friction of my thumb slipping out of the hook grip at great pressure caused some kind of internal bruising, which somehow resulted in an infection under the skin. Maybe it was acting sort of like an ingrown nail
    because the thumbnail had somehow thrust into the tissue and bruised or lacerated it internally.

    Have any of you ever had either of these things happen? (Thumb slipping out of hook grip or boil on thumb, or both.) They’re both novel occurrences for me, and it seems they must be connected.

    Also, did I do right by lancing the boil myself or would it have healed faster if I had a doctor do it / prescribe antibiotics / whatever the hell else a doctor would’ve done?

    Lastly, although I think I am doing hook grip correctly, I would appreciate any tips (aside from DON’T USE SHITTY TAPE) on preventing or predicting the thumb slipping out of hook grip.

    A rule of thumb, as it were.

    Couldn’t help myself, thanks for understanding.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
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    If it doesn't resolve completely in a couple more days, you'll need to get it looked it. There may be a foreign body in the wound. Go to a dermatologist, not a GP. Do not let anybody prescribe Cipro for this. And it's time to start using straps when you pull.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2021
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    If it doesn't resolve completely in a couple more days, you'll need to get it looked it. There may be a foreign body in the wound. Go to a dermatologist, not a GP. Do not let anybody prescribe Cipro for this. And it's time to start using straps when you pull.
    OP - definitely listen to Rip. Non-resolving infections are no joke.

    Ask me how I know...

    As a side note, my chart now has a "no quinolones" note in it.

  4. #4
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    I went ahead and visited a dermatologist as soon as I read your response, Rip. They’ve got me on an antibiotic (not Cipro) for two days, and also prescribed me an antibiotic ointment for bandaging.

    In hindsight, I wish I had gone to the dermatologist as soon as I knew there was a problem. I might already be back in the gym by now.

    I have also placed an order for lifting straps.

    Thanks for the advice, Rip and Jason.

  5. #5
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    Mar 2020
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    (1) UPDATE on the injury, and
    (2) A question about whether to use hook grip.

    (1) It turns out there WAS a foreign body or bodies in the wound. After the two days of antibiotics, the swelling went down but there was still tissue that was not knitting up. After about 10 days or so, the swelling resumed and I went back to the dermatologist. I asked her if maybe there was a foreign body inside. She said she thought not, but with the swelling it was difficult to see anything anyway. She prescribed 5 more days of antibiotics.

    After those five days I returned, and showed it to her again. By this time the swelling had reduced to the point that something black-looking was visible inside. Like when you have a thorn under your skin and you can see it translucently. But it looked like the objects were depositied in two different places. One site was nearest my cuticle, and nearest the surface of the skin. She scraped and dug and was able to remove some little tiny unidentified objects. I thought they looked like little grains of sand, or teeny-tiny little boogers.

    She then prescribed 4 more days of antiobiotics and told me to come back after those 4 days to see if the rest would be ready to come out. Sure enough, by the end of those 4 days the rest of the black stuff had moved all the way to the edge of my cuticle. Totally visible. I was tempted to dig it out myself.

    Anyway, she was able to remove the rest of the object(s) today, and I have a little hole or pit now where they were, at the downward left edge of my cuticle.

    This whole time, that portion of my cuticle had not been rebuilding tissue. So when you look at my nail from above, the left side of the cuticle seems to droop down like Sylvester Stallone’s mouth. But because of the antiobiotics, the swelling and pain went down and I have been training with no problems. The site was only painful to a strong and direct touch. (Again, like if you have a thorn under your skin but no inflammation.)

    I guess there is a small chance that the deadlifting incident was not the cause of this, but if it wasn’t then I am at a total loss to explain it. My best guess is that the little objects are pieces of athletic tape fabric that somehow got shoved violently under my cuticle or skin somehow when my thumb slipped out of the hook grip. I told the dermatologist about the lifting/athletic tape incident. All she said was that the objects resemble tiny little hairs, but she doesn’t know what they are.

    Again, any thoughts are welcome as to what the hell happened here. I don’t know how to tell you to prevent it from happening to you, but definitely don’t wait around before going to have it examined.

    (2) Rip, I’m curious about your reasoning when you said it’s time for me to start using straps for pulls. Are you suggesting that I avoid hook grip in the future? I don’t presume you think what happened to me is very likely to occur again. I am still getting used to the straps, and I must say I really miss hook grip and may prefer it once my thumb is fully healed. If you think hook grip would present risks not worth taking, I’d like to know what they are. Thanks for your advice.

  6. #6
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    starting strength coach development program
    2.) Straps will let the thumb heal. And it may not be possible to determine where the foreign body came from. It may have been there for months or years from an old accident you don't remember, and gotten aggravated by the hook grip.

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