Category Archives: Injuries

The Annoying Hand Injury You Didn’t Even Know Was a Thing – Skier’s Thumb

By Injuries

Do you train on squishy mats? Do you do handstands, push-ups, or other gymnastics on a squishy mat? Do you routinely wrestle finely-muscled athletes in a tub of Jell-O on a squishy mat? Just asking on that last one (send photos). If you do any of these things, you could be unknowingly courting a hand injury that I didn’t even know was a thing until it happened to me – SKIER’S THUMB (cue ominous music).

 

What is Skier’s Thumb? Why Might I Be at Risk?

Skier’s Thumb is a more common injury if you ski. Before you ask, no – I don’t. And if I did, it would probably look something like this.

 

 

It’s a soft tissue injury to the ligaments in your hand, most often occurring when skiers fall, splay their hands, and land on their poles – pushing the thumb back with force. Know how else you can get it? Yep – you guessed it! Training on squishy mats. What’s really unfair? It can develop over time. Merp.

If you’re an aerialist, you’ll notice a lot of tenderness around the base of the thumb, pain while gripping, and perhaps referred pain in the wrist. Your grip between thumb and forefinger will be weaker, thus diminishing your overall grip (so not a good time to do that “trapeze over a shark tank” act you’ve been dreaming of). It can also come with a hefty dose of thumb pain in any direction.

 

How Can I Prevent It?

Well, don’t train splayed-hand moves on squishy mats! Also – don’t ski (or at least don’t fall down).

What constitutes a squishy mat? Any mat where your palm is lower than your thumb when you’re doing a push-up. Sprung gymnastic floors are great, and firm panel mats or hard foam floors are usually OK. Soft mats like crash pads are horrendous, as are most mats that are going to feel nice and soft if you fall down on them. For the hand muscles to properly engage, the thumb and fingers shouldn’t be bent back.

 

Dammit – Too Late! How Do I Treat It?

Get thee to the doctor for a proper diagnosis! They’ll likely recommend the usual (ice, rest, NSAIDS), and if there’s a complete ligament tear, surgery, with PT to follow.

Mine sneaked up on me a few years ago, and EVERY TIME I see someone training gymnastic movement on a squishy mat (handstands, cartwheels, etc), I have to fight the urge to tackle them and ACE bandage their thumbs. But that would be weird, so I wrote about it instead.

Keep those hands healthy – they’re kind of important in the work we do! Also – I wanna see that shark tank act. Love and pull-ups, Laura

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Be Progressive! Why Progressions are Essential in Aerial and Circus Training

By 4 commentsInjuries, Safety, Training, Uncategorized

Marcee Corner PocketWith political campaigns heating up (if I was clever, I would figure out how to put a GIANT EYE ROLL HERE; you’ll just have to imagine it), I figured now is as good a time as any to bring up one of my very favorite topics: progressions! Turns out, you can be progressive AND conservative in your aerial work, which just might make you a superhero.

What is a Progression in CircusLand?

Simply put, a movement progression is building off of foundational skills to achieve or pursue an advanced state. For example, Lulu comes to my aerial silks group class here in New York City. She has never taken a silks class in her life. I do not allow or encourage her to start with a triple star (duh) – we work on simply standing on the fabric.

This seems pretty common sense, right? Well, I started with an easy one for you. How many of you are trying to execute a hip key in the air before getting your in-air inversions? Oooooh – I see a lot of hands. Dear Danglers, inversions in the air come before hip keys in the air – I’ll bet you’re in bad habit city right now. Good luck with that.

Every single move in circus is built on foundations of solid body positioning, strength, and mental readiness (it’s a thing). Every. single. one. Ultimately, a progression map looks a lot like a tree: there’s a solid trunk (inversion in the air), then branches start forming (hip key in the air), and so on, all the way to the fancy leaves at the end (drops from a hip key). Trying to bypass those progressions is NOT PRETTY, people!

  • An uphill battle. Without the supportive skills, moves higher up the progression tree are f*$king hard.
  • Higher risk of injuries. Not only are you more likely to fall on your head, you’re practically guaranteed repetitive stress injuries (tendinitis, bursitis, etc.), popped hammies, or soft tissue injuries like a torn labrum.
  • No understanding of the theory behind it. Yes – circus theory is a thing! You should know the why behind what you’re doing. WHY do we cross two times behind the back for this move? Why do we take our heel out of the knot? Why do we “clench for Jesus” as we slide in front of the fabric? The *why* is important.
  • Ya’ll – it’s ugly. Seriously. Know what’s lovely? A beautiful progression that doesn’t result in just heaving yourself into a position, hauling your body over, and flopping around like a deranged mackerel.
  • BONUS: extra panic! And fear! A good progression also prepares you mentally for the experience of advanced moves. Some motions MUST be executed with confidence, some require some mental reconciling with fear, and some just hurt like hell until you’ve done them twenty times. There’s no skipping the preparation for that (unless you really like falling, injury, extra pain, debilitating fear, peeing in panic, you get the picture).

How do I Work With Progressions?

Hopefully, your teacher has given a great deal of thought to their methodology and pedagogy. (Psssst! If you suspect that this is not the case, it may be time to seek out a new coach.) This looks like a consistent and careful progression that is similar for every student. Everyone will progress at wildly different paces, but the stepping stones should remain largely the same, with small variations for human differences. It does NOT look like allowing students to jump in wherever they’d like.

So, let’s all be progressive AND conservative! It’s the best of all the aerial worlds! Love and pull-ups, Laura

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The Sound of… Silence? What Can You do About Aerial Queefing?

By 18 commentsInjuries, Training, Uncategorized

Ghetto StrapsOh yes, I absolutely am going there.

A lovely Dear Dangler recently sent me this query, and I wanted to throw this out to you, Hive Mind.

Queef: noun: an expulsion of air through the vagina.

“I am stressed and embarrassed about doing straddle inverts, as well as other general invert moves.

The problem is that with the damage from my pregnancy when I invert my organs move down towards my head causing a vacuum and sucking in air, caused the dreaded queef.

I love silks, it is my joy at the moment but I was so mortified the first time it happened.  I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but I am constantly stressed about it. 

Do you have any recommendations to help solve the problem???”

Pre-pregnancy, when I would base trapeze, sometimes this would happen to me (we called me “the mayor of Queeftown”, and joked that I could propel our roll-around-the-bars with the force of them). It tended to happen when we were returning to trapeze after a short hiatus, so I suspect I was allowing my pelvic floor muscles to to relax a bit.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom for this quizzical queefer? It’s awful when something like this stands in the way of something you love. OK, Hive Mind! GO!!!! If you have any thoughts or recommendations, please leave them in the comments below! Love and pull-ups, Laura

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ACL Tears and Other Injuries: Guest Blogger Chriselle Tidrick!!!

By 4 commentsInjuries, Performance, Training, Uncategorized

Hello Dear Danglers! This week, I bring to you……. A GUEST BLOGGER!!! The amazing Chriselle Tidrick from Above and Beyond Dance recently shared her ACL rehab story with a reader, and generously allowed me to reprint it here. If you’ve torn your ACL, or have another serious injury, I hope her words inspire you to keep going, heal up, and be smart about it! I’ve seen her work recently, and you would never believe she’d ever had an injury. She was incredibly diligent in her PT, and made healing her second job. I love how she doesn’t sugar-coat it! Love and pull-ups, Laura

I unfortunately, do have a lot of experience with knee injuries.  I tore my ACL in 2012, and I hate to say but it’s a very challenging injury to deal with.  You can certainly get through this and return to a full performance life.  (Thankfully, I have.)  But, it takes a lot of time and a lot of work.
 
In terms of the injury itself, let me share a few things which you may already know, but which I wish I understood more fully when I tore my ACL.  Every orthopedist has a slightly different method of bringing you back after ACL surgery.  I happened to have a very conservative orthopedist.  The drag of this choice is that it took me longer than many others to make a full recovery.  The good thing is that he was really making an effort to protect me from re-tearing the ACL.  My understanding is that if you re-tear the ACL, your chances for making a full recovery are significantly diminished.  Like you, I asked very early in the process how soon I could expect to return to aerial.  My doctor recounted a horrifying story about how one of his patients returned to aerial too soon and completely ripped out his surgery.  Needless to say, this kept me from pushing too far too fast.  For me, it was a little over a year before I was back to training, and even then, it was a gradual process of strengthening and rebuilding my comfort level in the apparatus. (My knee is much more sensitive to torque than it used to be.)  For a long time, I had to switch to doing a lot of elements on my non-surgery side (which is also my non-dominant side).  That said, I understand it makes a difference whether you opt for an autograft or an allograft.  If you have an autograft (the doctor uses your own tissue– usually hamstring or patellar tendon), I understand that the healing time is shorter than for an allograft (donor graft).  I opted for an allograft because I had a previous injury on the leg with the ACL tear, and I didn’t want to further compromise that leg.
 
Right after surgery, you are going to spend a lot of time on a knee machine which takes your knee passively through range of motion.  I think I was on that thing for something like 6 hours a day.  If your orthopedist functions like mine, it will be a week or so before you start PT.  You will be shocked to discover how quickly your leg muscles atrophy.  Your early PT exercises will be very gentle and very simple, and you will very gradually build up to more full movement.  Once I was able, I spent about 2 hours a day, 5-6 days a week doing my PT exercises.  I quickly discovered that my desire to keep my aerial muscles in shape was supplanted by a desire to get my knee functioning properly, and my time and energy was mainly directed to doing as much PT as my body could handle.  I could carefully do chin-ups, chin holds and shoulder shrugs, and I used a rope pulling machine at the gym, but I really opted to keep my focus on the knee rehab.  As soon as my knee was stable enough, I did spend a lot of time also doing floor barre and Pilates.  Since you have a doorway bar, you can probably add in L holds pretty early on, but just be careful not to stress out your hip flexors too much.  They’ll be pretty stressed from schlepping around on crutches!
 
I am sure this doesn’t apply to you, if you are already asking about aerial training. It sounds like you are the kind of person who will regularly do her PT.  But, honestly, for anyone not serious about keeping up with PT, I’d seriously consider living life with a brace and not doing the surgery.  Granted, this choice means you will never be able to return to aerial training, but if you don’t do your PT you won’t be able to go back to it, either…
 
Let me also stress that it’s important to work with PTs accustomed to dealing with dancers/athletes as you go through this process.  Our rehab needs are different from people who have more sedentary jobs, and you will definitely need guidance about what is or is not safe for your knee as you return to training.  I was lucky that one of the 2 PTs I worked with at Harkness Center for Dance Injuries does aerial training.  She really walked me through my return to aerial.  Her suggestion to me was that I start with static trap/lyra and then progress into fabric.  I will say that there are definitely more positions involving uncomfortable torque in aerial fabric, so you’ll want to be really careful (go slowly!) as you explore those.  I am sure your PTs will tell you this, but hamstring strength is key as you return to aerial.
 
What can I tell you about coming back to aerial after being away for so many months?  Well, it was such a gradual process that, even though I was weak, I could gradually add in more and more strengthening activities at a pace that basically matched the kinds of skills I was allowed to do.  For conditioning, I mostly worked shoulder shrugs, chin holds, chin ups, inversions (bent arm and straight arm), and I did a lot of Pilates.  The hardest thing was rebuilding my endurance once my knee was strong enough to execute choreographic sequences, but that came back too, as it certainly will for you.  I am sorry to tell you that this will be a really slow, annoying and frustrating process, but everything really will come back.  At this point, I am as strong as ever and enjoying having a full performing life as a dancer, aerialist and stilt dancer.  
 
Wishing you a smooth recovery process.  Believe me, I feel your pain! – Chriselle 

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DIY Ice Packs for the Sassiest of Aerialists!

By 2 commentsInjuries, Supplies, Uncategorized

What you’ll need!

… and, you know, anyone else who needs ice packs. SO. A dear friend had a slight shoulder dislocation this past week, and, being the Florence Nightengale that I am, I went to buy them an ice pack. Know how much they were? A reusable shoulder ice pack with a holder was – brace yourself (get it?? BRACE?! HA!) – $20. I’m sorry, are you KIDDING ME? Those of you who have ever seen me tear through CVS with my coupons and ECB’s know that I’m something of a frugal gal. So, what’s a cheapskate like me to do? Make my own durned ice pack!

I stocked up on dish detergent (on sale, of course), and set to work. You’ll need:

  •  1-2 bottles of cheap dishwashing liquid (Dawn, Palmolive, whatever’s on sale); OR, substitute a mixture of 3 parts water to 1 part rubbing alcohol
  • two one-gallon plastic freezer bags
  • an old T shirt
  • fabric glue or a sewing machine
  • (optional) scrap fabric or rhinestones to bedazzle your creation
  • (optional) elastic to allow it to stay without holding it

Almost done!

  1. Fold your bags in half, place them on your T shirt, and measure one additional inch on all sides. Mark your measurements with a sharpie, cut two (or cut 1 on the fold and eliminate step 2).
  2.  Glue or sew one long side together – this is your center seam.
  3. Bedazzle or sew/glue on your decorative fabric (be mindful not to glue rhinestones on your seam allowance!)
  4. If using elastic, pin it to the top panel, matching one of the edges with the seam allowance. Baste or glue. (if this makes zero sense, just sew or glue it on when the ice pack is finished).
  5. Fold at the center seam, and sew up one short edge and the remaining long edge.
  6. Hem the remaining raw edge if you wish.
  7. Fill one plastic bag with the desired amout of goo. Squeeze out the air and seal it shut.
  8. Double the bag.
  9. Insert into the sleeve – VOILA! Stick it in your freezer. The detergent or alcohol mixture will get cold, but not freeze solid.

ENJOY! Love and pull-ups, Laura

Finshed!

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Exercises for Strong, Sassy Knees – Treat ‘Em Right!

By Alternative Treatments & Bodywork, Exercises, Injuries

Hello Dear Danglers! Some of you are dealing with wonky knees, and I came across a few resources you might find useful. We always think of keeping our upper bodies pain & injury-free, but knees are pretty helpful too. 😉 As always, check with your doctor or physical therapist to see if these exercises are right for you. Enjoy! Love and Pull-ups, Laura

PS – these are also great if you’re having trouble getting legs straight in any crocheted position on fabrics!

Build a Better Knee – Runners World

3 Exercises to Cure Your Knee Pain

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5 Ways to Bounce Your Booty Back Faster After a Break

By 13 commentsIllness, Training, Uncategorized

Happy New Year, Dear Danglers!!!! Welcome back! OK – hands up if you completely abandoned your training and drank too much cabernet over the holidays! ME TOO. Oh dear. Time to get back in the game! So how do you jump back in safely and fabulously after being away for a few weeks? A few months? A Year? Grab some cawfee and we’ll tawk. And pass me a bottle of red….

 

Why You Were Away Matters

I was 4 months post-partum. Things were still harder than I wanted them to be!
So, why were you away? Vacation? Pregnancy & birth? Injury? Slacking? The reason for your absence matters a lot, and can give you a more realistic timeline for returning to your previous level of awesomeness. For example, if you just had a baby, you are realistically looking at 8-12 weeks between birth and the time you can get back in the air (not counting the months when that SPECTACULAR baby bump made that trapeze too crowded to do anything but pose on). Injured? You can only go as quickly as your injury will allow. Even a two week vacation can mess with your game when you’re in the early days of romancing an apparatus.
I know, I hear you – you want to be back to your rock star self TODAY RIGHT NOW THIS VERY MINUTE PLEASE. I get it – it’s no fun to feel like you worked your tushie off just to see that hard work go out the window with a gallon of eggnog, a two week Real Housewives marathon, and zero movement. So, as I heave myself back into the air, I invite you to do the same, and keep this on your radar.
 

5 Ways to Get Back in the Game Faster

 
1 – Don’t hurt yourself by going balls to the wall day one! Take your temperature (not literally, unless you really want to), see where you are, and never gage success by the first day back. Push yourself too hard in your frustration, and you could wind up with an injury that will prolong your hiatus! This especially applies to returning to aerial work after having a baby. Hello? You just made a person and catapulted them into the world! Cut yourself some slack!
2 – Trust the training & be where you are (I spent a half an hour trying to insert a little gong sound here. I failed, so GONGGGGGGGG!). You are where you are where you are, and no amount of beating yourself up is going to change that. Take it from me – you’ll be back in the game WAY sooner than you think! Breathe and train.
3 – Avoid mental games. Right about this time, your Inner Meanie is going to rear it’s ugly head, and try to convince you that it’s-all-pointless-the-hard-work-is-all-gone-you-suck-and-you’ll-never-have-that-hip-key-again. This is not true. You had it once, you will have it again. Shut up, Meanie.
4 – Do your best work. Cut yourself some slack? Yes. Let yourself off the hook and make excuses? NO. Work as hard and as diligently as you safely can – you’ll feel good knowing that even if you’re not back to where you were, you did your absolute best and that matters more. It really does. Remember: this is temporary!
5 – Visualize & remember. By session 3, you’ll likely have a good idea of where you actually are and what needs your attention. Review your notes on these moves and see if you’re slipped back into poor technique which may be holding you back. Try to remember in your mind and body what that move felt like, and see if you can come any closer to recapturing that sensation.
 
At the end of the day, it really does boil down to two things: 1) patience 2) realistic expectations. Take a deep breath, and accept where you are. Tough love: you don’t have a choice. Focus on the step just in front of you, and really celebrate every move forward – you’ll be back to your badass self in no time at all! Love and pull-ups, Laura

 
 

 

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You Weren’t Using Those Joints, Were You? 5 Essential Tips for Injury-Free Shoulders

By 23 commentsAlternative Treatments & Bodywork, Injuries, Uncategorized

When I first fell in love with aerial silks about 18 years ago (be kind, don’t do the math), I tackled it the way I approach just about everything in my life: HEAD ON. I’m not known for moderation, and I set up a training schedule that would make Cirque du Soleil’s rehearsal schedule look like the Dolly Dinkle School of Circus. And then, I got schooled. Big time.

The Trials of Tendinitis

It started with a little burning in my arm around the deltoid muscle. I put heat on it (fatal mistake #1), got a massage (fatal mistake #2), and kept right on with my INSANE training schedule (the nail in the coffin). Within two weeks, I couldn’t even lift my arm. I was diagnosed with severe tendinitis and bursitis, and told by a doctor that I would never climb again (that’s a story for another time). Thankfully, a friend brought me to the physical therapists who treat the Soleil artists in Montreal, and they helped me get back in the air. It took about three years before I was working totally pain-free, and my shoulder was damaged irreparably (I’ll need a new one someday). So how can you avoid making the same mistakes I did? Here are some thoughts, though this is just the tip of the iceberg.
  1. Maintain proper shoulder positioning while training. Shoulders should be engaged, but not pulled all the way down (think about your scapula wrapping around towards your sides, and your shoulders in a half shrug). For an AMAZING, in-depth look at this, read Dr. Jen Crane’s article here.
  2. Train consistently. On-again-off-again training is really hard on the body. If you’ll be away from your beloved apparatus for a time (VACATION! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!), make sure you train exercises (PULL-UPS!) appropriate to your circus discipline.
  3.  BUT, don’t over-train like I did. As hungry as you are in the beginning for training, ramp it up slowly. Flinging yourself full steam into a intense training regimen is a sure-fire way to wind up awesomely injured. Start with one or two classes a week, supported by Pilates, weight training, stretching, and whatever else your little heart desires, just ramp up GRADUALLY – you can open up a can-o-whoop-ass on yourself as you get stronger.
  4.  Pay attention to sensation. Feeling a burning, grinding, clicking, or other pain in your shoulder (or any other) joint? STOP. Get thee to a physical therapist, and take a break. When you’re ready to come back, make some time with your coach to have your form evaluated (** a bit of candor here – not all aerial teachers are well-versed in proper shoulder alignment. Can they speak knowledgeably about the structure of the joint, etc? Something to keep in mind.)
  5. Treat inflammation aggressively. I don’t think it’s ever a bad idea to ice your shoulders (or other iffy areas for you) after class or a workout whether you have pain or not – break out those frozen peas! Heat + inflammation = more inflammation, so consider stepping awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay from the heating pad until you know what you’re dealing with. NSAIDs (ibuprofin, etc.), cortizone shots, and physical therapy are common items in the Western artillery to treat inflammation. I’ve had phenomenal results with acupuncture, and lots of folks swear by their chiropractors. Dealing with inflammation? Do what your doctor advises, and don’t be afraid to get a few opinions (and dip a toe outside the traditional western medical approach).

Chocolate and Flowers?

Keeping shoulders happy is quite the endeavor – I’m still learning a lot! It’s a funny joint: lots of mobility = lots of instability. Have you had shoulder issues? What worked for you? What didn’t? Share share share! Love and pull-ups, Laura

UPDATE: Many thanks to Heather from Asheville Aerial Arts for the awesome comment about the “Thrower’s 10” – resources below!

Thrower’s 10 Shoulder Exercises PDF:  http://www.safethrow.com/ExerciseThrowing/Thrower’s%2010.pdf

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When The Show Must Go On: Performing Aerial Anything When You’re Sick

By 2 commentsIllness, Injuries, Uncategorized

My aerial partner Angela and I were going straight from India to Portugal, where we were to begin a two month contract at the Casino Estoril. FABULOUS! We were so careful while in India – only ate steaming cooked foods, drank bottled water, etc. Our flight to Portugal was fine, and the next morning we hung our trapeze and settled in up there for about 10 minutes while they focused our lights. It was then that disaster struck. Let’s just say that it was the longest 10 minutes of our lives, and the rest of the day wasn’t pretty. So, what if this had been a show day? When are you too sick to go on? Grab your Pepto and read on.

How Sick is Too Sick?

Now, let’s be clear. When I say “illness”, I don’t mean ebola. If the phrase “do you want me to hold your hair” is in play, hanging upside down is probably not in your immediate future. Generally speaking, if you are sick enough to know yourself to be unsafe, there is no question – you cannot perform.

How To Get Through That Show

A cold or mild upset is another story if calling in a swing or sitting this one out is out of the question. Now, I can’t tell you what YOU should do, but I can tell you what has worked for us in the past.

  • If we were battling congestion, aches, etc., we used an over the counter fever reducer like Tylenol & a decongestant spray like Afrin (avoid system-wide cold meds like the plague when you’re performing – they dry you out and really do a number on you). This generally kept our heads from exploding when we went upside down, and got us through a number of shows.
  • Saline nasal sprays have been helpful too for light congestion
  • Day of the show, rest as much as you can and hydrate like mad
  • Wear a mask backstage if you’re contagious, and distance yourself so you don’t infect the whole cast. Nobody wants your cooties.
  • We found that the adrenaline of performing often made us feel better! For about 15 minutes anyway….

How To Cancel That Show

 My general rule is this: if you’re so sick that you would give up concert tickets you stayed up for four days to get, you’re too sick to perform. Your safety has to be the priority. Give the people who hired you as much of a heads up as you can. If you can line up a replacement for yourself, so much the better!  You should have an injury or illness clause in your contract that essentially says that if you are very ill or injured at the time of the show, you are released from your contract.

Take two and call me in the morning, lovelies! Love and pull-ups, Laura

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Avoiding Silk Burns: a Hot Topic

By 5 commentsInjuries, Uncategorized

We’ve all been there – you climb up to do a seemingly harmless move and YOWZAHS!!! Silk burn! Never fear, Dear Dangler, help is on the way.

Why We Burn

Why do we burn, anyway? Well, it surely isn’t rocket science – it’s friction! Some friction is good, and helps us maintain our position on the fabric. But, friction has an evil stepsister – HEAT. Sometimes, this heat is barely noticeable; other times, you generate enough heat to actually burn your skin and melt your clothing! Sexy welts, oozing sores, and leperosy open sores are the result.

When you factor in higher temperatures and rising humidity in summer (which, predictably, increase friction), you can really do some damage! I once had to go to the ER to have my costume debrided from the back of my knee – it melted right into my skin after a (particularly epic) slack drop! It really, really hurt, and I still have a scar.

When It’s Not a Burn

When is a burn not a burn? When it’s an abrasion! When the humidity rises, there’s more fun to be had. The silks can scour the skin, resulting in an uneven rash-like boo-boo which scabs over quickly, but is often very sore until it heals. We most often find abrasions on shoulders, lower back, and thighs (again, did I mention how sexy this is?).

OK, Ms Laura, How do we Prevent Them?

Oh, you’re gonna hate my answer: long leggings, long sleeves, and unitards; essentially going “aerial Amish”. We most often burn on the lower back or sides, behind the knee, and the dreaded armpit burn (can we all agree that those are the worst?).

Don’t worry – I’m not suggesting that you don a chunky wool sweater in July, but protective clothing and smart choices go a loooooooong way towards keeping you intact.

  • Thick leggings that come all the way to the ankle make a world of difference. Start there.
  • Unitards or leotards won’t ride up, and are your best defense against lower back and side burns.
  • A long-sleeved t shirt or shrug will help you avoid armpit trauma, and you can take them on and off as needed.
  • In very hot or humid weather, you’ll want to hold off on some of the moves that are almost guaranteed to leave skin on the fabric.
  • All covered up and still getting fried? Try wearing a different fabric blend. Synthetics will often heat up more than thick cotton, so it may be as simple as swapping out your britches.

 First Aid for Your Burned Bod

You want to keep your ouchie moist and covered to help it heal faster, and reduce the risk of scarring and infection. My first pick is Burts Bees Res-Q Ointment – it’s got all sorts of good things in there that will heal you up nice and quick. Aquaphor, Tattoo Goo, and Hustle Butter can work well also. If the burn is very bad, colloidal silver/Silvadene might be a better choice. I don’t love antibiotic ointments because neomycin is a very common allergen – you probably don’t need it unless your burn gets infected (or is likely to). Medical tape and a light layer of gauze will keep your clothing from rubbing against them. Baby the area until it’s all healed up, and you should be right as rain. Believe it or not, high traffic areas will often toughen up over time, and you won’t get quite so much fabric love. Love and pull-ups, Laura

What’s your go-to burn remedy? Share in the comments below!

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