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Blisters and Calluses from Rowing: Prevalence, Perceptions and Pain Tolerance

Background and Objectives: Rowing is a sport that involves constant gripping, pulling/pushing, and rotational movements of the hands, in a cyclic periodic manner with every stroke, with hundreds of strokes being taken within a short period of time. Dermatological issues on rowers’ hands (fingers and...

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Autores principales: Grima, Joseph N., Vella Wood, Michelle, Portelli, Nadia, Grima-Cornish, James N., Attard, Daphne, Gatt, Alfred, Formosa, Cynthia, Cerasola, Dario
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8779584/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35056385
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina58010077
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author Grima, Joseph N.
Vella Wood, Michelle
Portelli, Nadia
Grima-Cornish, James N.
Attard, Daphne
Gatt, Alfred
Formosa, Cynthia
Cerasola, Dario
author_facet Grima, Joseph N.
Vella Wood, Michelle
Portelli, Nadia
Grima-Cornish, James N.
Attard, Daphne
Gatt, Alfred
Formosa, Cynthia
Cerasola, Dario
author_sort Grima, Joseph N.
collection PubMed
description Background and Objectives: Rowing is a sport that involves constant gripping, pulling/pushing, and rotational movements of the hands, in a cyclic periodic manner with every stroke, with hundreds of strokes being taken within a short period of time. Dermatological issues on rowers’ hands (fingers and palms) in the form of blisters and calluses are common knowledge within the community, but their prevalence and the rower’s perceptions and pain tolerance to them has never been systematically evaluated. This work addresses these lacunae. Materials and Methods: Analysis of data collected from a survey on a sample of competitive (117) and noncompetitive rowers (28) who row on-water (total 145). Results: It was found that approximately 69% of rowers participating in this study have calluses on their hands for most of their time (considered by them as not painful). The incidence of blisters was found to be lower (but perceived as more painful). Their incidence was found to be fairly independent of the frequency and intensity of training, but they seem to affect most rowers equally at the beginning of season or during a change of position (nonconditioned hands). Blisters and calluses were reported to be mainly located on the proximal phalanges and metacarpo-phalangeal joint area of both hands, i.e., on the lower parts of the fingers and the upper inner palms. Conclusions: Rowers demonstrated a sense of acceptance of these dermatological issues, even a sense of pride in what they represent. The incidence of blisters becoming infected was estimated to be so low that most rowers would not have encountered such serious, albeit rare, consequences.
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spelling pubmed-87795842022-01-22 Blisters and Calluses from Rowing: Prevalence, Perceptions and Pain Tolerance Grima, Joseph N. Vella Wood, Michelle Portelli, Nadia Grima-Cornish, James N. Attard, Daphne Gatt, Alfred Formosa, Cynthia Cerasola, Dario Medicina (Kaunas) Article Background and Objectives: Rowing is a sport that involves constant gripping, pulling/pushing, and rotational movements of the hands, in a cyclic periodic manner with every stroke, with hundreds of strokes being taken within a short period of time. Dermatological issues on rowers’ hands (fingers and palms) in the form of blisters and calluses are common knowledge within the community, but their prevalence and the rower’s perceptions and pain tolerance to them has never been systematically evaluated. This work addresses these lacunae. Materials and Methods: Analysis of data collected from a survey on a sample of competitive (117) and noncompetitive rowers (28) who row on-water (total 145). Results: It was found that approximately 69% of rowers participating in this study have calluses on their hands for most of their time (considered by them as not painful). The incidence of blisters was found to be lower (but perceived as more painful). Their incidence was found to be fairly independent of the frequency and intensity of training, but they seem to affect most rowers equally at the beginning of season or during a change of position (nonconditioned hands). Blisters and calluses were reported to be mainly located on the proximal phalanges and metacarpo-phalangeal joint area of both hands, i.e., on the lower parts of the fingers and the upper inner palms. Conclusions: Rowers demonstrated a sense of acceptance of these dermatological issues, even a sense of pride in what they represent. The incidence of blisters becoming infected was estimated to be so low that most rowers would not have encountered such serious, albeit rare, consequences. MDPI 2022-01-05 /pmc/articles/PMC8779584/ /pubmed/35056385 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina58010077 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Grima, Joseph N.
Vella Wood, Michelle
Portelli, Nadia
Grima-Cornish, James N.
Attard, Daphne
Gatt, Alfred
Formosa, Cynthia
Cerasola, Dario
Blisters and Calluses from Rowing: Prevalence, Perceptions and Pain Tolerance
title Blisters and Calluses from Rowing: Prevalence, Perceptions and Pain Tolerance
title_full Blisters and Calluses from Rowing: Prevalence, Perceptions and Pain Tolerance
title_fullStr Blisters and Calluses from Rowing: Prevalence, Perceptions and Pain Tolerance
title_full_unstemmed Blisters and Calluses from Rowing: Prevalence, Perceptions and Pain Tolerance
title_short Blisters and Calluses from Rowing: Prevalence, Perceptions and Pain Tolerance
title_sort blisters and calluses from rowing: prevalence, perceptions and pain tolerance
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8779584/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35056385
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina58010077
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