The pain!!! How do you overcome it?

Felissita started this discussion · 1/30/2010

Hi girls! I have a terrible problem that when I make the pole sit and the inversion from it, I have a terrible pain inside my hips... Maybe because I'm a little bit skinny or I don't know. It feels like all my skin is stretched and I can't support it. Do anyone have the same problem or know how to resolve it? And the other question. While doing the spinning moves around the pole, I terribly sore the skin of my hands. It's just full of corns and I can't dance anymore... Do you have the same problem, maybe you use a sort of gloves or sometihng like that?

9 replies

chemgoddess1 · 1/30/2010
I have callouses on my hands like crazy from poling. I do know that mighty grip now has gloves. I am not all that fond of them but there are others that are. The pain subsides once you get the body mechanics down. I think we all start by using our skin to hold more than we should and then progress to strength and muscle with a little skin to help.
Audball · 1/30/2010
I had the same problem with pole sits fedorka. Then the other day I did it, it hurt quite a bit, but the pole was hot and it was fine. I've had the same problem with spins hurting my hands, only recently, think it's because the pole gets so warm?
polergirl · 1/30/2010
My hands look like I've been working a chain gang or something--callouses all the way! As for the skin pain, at some point you'll find a "sweet spot," so to speak, where a certain movement works best with your own body shape, and it won't hurt as much. Plus, as chemgoddess said, you will start learning how to hold yourself in the move with muscle and less reliance on skin.
SkinDeep · 1/31/2010
the pain goes away...i think it may have something to do with getting used to the moves and not "overgripping" I've been knows to use Fox brand BX gloves while poling.....I'm a makeup artist and with my hands in people's faces all day long, I can't hang with callouses all over them!
Trena · 1/31/2010
Hi fedorka! Dont worry, your hands will get used to the spins and they wont be so sore. And the same goes for your thighs! Just keep praticing these moves and your skin will get used to it! I promise! I do not recommend gloves, you dont need them! Trena xx
Felissita · 2/1/2010
Thanks so much to all of you, girls! Trena, I'm just wondering why dont't you reccomend the gloves? Ultimately I thought that it could be a solution to my problem:-)... XX
Trena · 2/1/2010
Well I just dont think that you need them. If you do not use gloves your hands will become tougher and it wont be so sore anymore. 😉 But if you want gloves then by all means you should get them 🙂
MilienElayne · 2/2/2010
GLOVES: Firstly, I don't use gloves or any grip product for spins. Despite sweaty hands, I can barely get enough momentum (overgrip) with bare hands, let alone with grip aids! I heard recently that gloves don't allow your hands to strengthen as much as using bare hands. Perhaps, your grip can be more relaxed in gloves as they grip for you? I'm weaning off them so I don't end up at a loss if I for some reason don't have gloves when I pole and I don't want to lose any ounce of potential strengthening. I'll use them as a last resort or a new scary move backup. PAIN: I make sure I am really motivated and can be distracted by getting into the music, having an audience (in class, or my camera) and focusing on my form...and I somehow vacate the area of my brain that focuses on the skin pain. I feel it, but I just don't care. 'Yeah, this hurts a bit, but I rock this!' The lessening of pain, I think anyway, happens over time as you get used to it and as your muscles and form develop to better execute the move (as others have said). If you do now exactly what your started out doing, I reckon it would still hurt the same. I'm not a believer in physical desensitisation. Yes, I am slowly building small, thin callouses on my hands (after 1 year of dedicated poling and recently starting assorted aerials apparatus), but I still blister over and under them. Plus, I still bruise a crapload (more than anyone else I know who's not anemic or has clotting issues), even doing a move very well and having done it several times a week for a year. My diet is good and nothing else bruises me like pole contact. A strong fall on my shoulder, a torn hamstring, a bad sprained ankle, a high speed run in with a table, smashed in the head so hard I see stars with a play tea tray... no bruises. However, I love every pole bruise and ache because I know where it came from and enjoyed getting it!
GatorGirl4Life · 2/3/2010
Like everyone else has said before, the stronger you get, the more your muscles will hold your body and your skin won't pull as much. As far as callouses go, it's a good idea to use vitamin E oil rubbed directly onto your callouses at night. It will soften the skin and prevent "rips" from happening (rips are when the callous builds up so much that it begins to 'rip' off the skin exposing the raw layers of skin underneath, very painful!). I know this sounds a little inconvenient, but if you want to, you can sleep with a sock over your hand to allow more vitamin E oil to soak over night. When you are in the shower or have soaked your hands long enough for the skin to soften, you can use a pumice stone and gently rub away the dead, built up skin to keep the callouses from getting so big. It's a maintenance thing, but I have also noticed that the more "grip aid" I use, the more pronounced my callouses become.