split finger tips advice needed

[wonderwebb]

Hi i wonderd if some of you out there had a good solution to the problem of split finger tips .

I have got a new cow skin drum and wanted to know if a certain type of plaster on the split ends will affect the tune of the drum?
Also been toying with the idea of super glue ! I know it might not be such a good idea while they are split but i was thinking of after once they have healed to use as a preventitive measure .

Any input or solutions woud be appriciated cheers.

[michi]

The best way to deal with it is probably to not play until the split is healed, and then play again. Eventually, you'll develop calluses that will help to prevent splits.

What also helps is to use shea butter (or similar) on a regular basis. It's good for your skin and keeps the calluses soft, so they don't go all hard and brittle.

If you want to play while you have splits, you can tape them up. Either use normal strapping tape, such as Leukoplast, or paper medical tape, such as Micropore. (I prefer the paper tape because the glue of the strapping tape makes my skin go all white and soft, as if it had been waterlogged.)

Cheers,

Michi.

[wonderwebb]

Thanks michi i brought some of that micropore tape and it has done the job nicely.

suppose ill have to wait for them to toughen up

[Jessie]

With a cow skin you will increase your chance of continuously having split problems. The skin being much thicker and harder than goat. I have had issues with splits and cow skins in the past. I've used super glue too, even before my split has healed. It has worked wonders in emergency situations for me. Michi's right too, keep playing and your hands will toughen up. Good luck. Splits can be painful and annoying.

[Justin]

I doubt this will help, but it may at least be entertaining:
A few years ago my former percussion professor took a trip to Cuba in order to further his Timbale and Conga studies. While there, he heard stories of local drummers peeing on their fingertips if they split open. Now, part of me can see how this might help, but getting me to actually do it would be impossible. I have neosporin and shea-butter... Do you think they were pulling his leg???

[e2c]

No, they weren't kidding. It's an old Cuban "remedy": maybe has something to do with the salt content of urine?

Soaking your hands in warm, extremely salty water will work just as well or better. (At least, that's what I've been told - "make it salty like the sea.") It certainly is a lot cleaner!

[michi]

No, they weren't kidding. It's an old Cuban "remedy": maybe has something to do with the salt content of urine?

I've heard the same story for djembe players. I have this sneaking suspicion that, somewhere in West Africa, there is a bunch of djembe players who are laughing themselves silly about all the stupid westerners who are pissing on their hands: "These guys believe absolutely anything we tell them..."

Soaking your hands in warm, extremely salty water will work just as well or better. (At least, that's what I've been told - "make it salty like the sea.") It certainly is a lot cleaner!

It does work--I know from first-hand experience. It's good for bruising because the heat gets the circulation going. But it really helps with swelling. When I play hard for about a week or so, gradually I get fluid build-up in my fingers. They are just a little bit thicker than normal. ("Puffy", you might say.)

Take a bowl of really hot water and dissolve all the salt you can in it. You need to put so much salt in that there is some amount left that will no longer dissolve, no matter how much you stir. That's a saturated salt solution.

Now bathe your hands in the hot water, as hot as you can possibly stand it. The high salt concentration of the water causes liquid from your fingers to be drawn out through the skin into the water due to osmotic pressure. You need to give it a minimum of 10 minutes. 20 minutes is better. (You may need to reheat the water half-way through.)

It really does help by reducing the swelling and, if you have bruising, the bruises will heal quicker.

One you've dried your hands, while the skin is still soft, use a bit of shea butter on your hands. It penetrates better due to the heat and the soft skin, and helps to keep calluses soft and pliable.

Cheers,

Michi.

[Djembe-nerd]

I know for a fact that in rural villages in India, before cheap medicines became avilable, people used to urinate on a cut or injury. Results & reasons, I don't know they said it was anti-septic and I heard no negative cases, so I guess it was good.

[Dugafola]

i use this stuff when i've been playing hard daily at a camp or conference or rehearsals etc.

http://www.traumeel.com/Traumeel_com_Home.homotox

it doesn't help with splits though.

[bops]

No, they weren't kidding. It's an old Cuban "remedy": maybe has something to do with the salt content of urine?

I've heard of that too, but from a Guatemalan. Working in the fields on a mountainside, if someone got a bad cut, they would pee on it to sterilize the wound. Like e2c, the salt makes it like a saline solution.

As for soaking your hands, that's a tried and true method of soothing surface cracks as well as minor tissue trauma. I recommend using Epsom salt, available at your local pharmacy.

Always keep a roll of medical tape in your drum bag.

[michi]

I know for a fact that in rural villages in India, before cheap medicines became avilable, people used to urinate on a cut or injury. Results & reasons, I don't know they said it was anti-septic and I heard no negative cases, so I guess it was good.

Urine is sterile (unless you have a bladder infection). This means you can safely use it irrigate wounds without risking infection. I couldn't find anything about any antiseptic properties that looked credible in my web searches.

Cheers,

Michi.

[e2c]

Not to get too gritty, but it's sterile when it's extremely fresh. After that, not so much.

I sure wouldn't use it to irrigate a wound unless there was no safe antiseptic, antibacterial solution available!

Juat sayin'.

[Djembe-nerd]

I couldn't find anything about any antiseptic properties that looked credible in my web searches.

Yes, maybe it was that I heard and got it mixed up, it was long time ago.

[Dugafola]

Always keep a roll of medical tape in your drum bag.

the key is to keep ppl from "borrowing" it permanently...

[michi]

the key is to keep ppl from "borrowing" it permanently...

Too true

I used to get upset about that... Everyone coming and "borrowing" my tape because, in a group for 30 people at a week-long camp, I was one of two persons who had brought tape.

These days, I'm more philosophical about it. I just put half a dozen rolls into my bag. They are cheap and, man, am I popular at some of these camps

Michi.