Okay, so when I play badminton for a long time, three places of my body gets raw after a while - my thumb (the part contacting the racket handle as it rubs when I am making my strokes), the side of my big toe (where the callus is usually built up), and the side of my little toe (the exact opposite of where the callus of the big toe is). These are obvious things as there is a lot of rubbing going on when there is so much footwork and swinging of the racket. So when these things happen, it hurts so much that I start thinking about the pain over my actual playing so I asked my sister and she told me to tape those areas up with medical tape and this seemed logical as I have seen MANY professional athletes doing this such as in tennis where Serena Williams is always injured in some way so you always see her using medical tape all over the body. Does anyone else have such a problem and have thought of working solutions? Did you try using medical tape to reduce the friction of those areas? If you did, had it worked? Also, is there a good or proper way of taping to get the greatest effect or are you just supposed to slap it on? I have not tried this before. I hope you guys can provide some insight. Thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide!
This doesn't sound normal. Thumb - you're gripping it too tight. Badminton racket is light, not like tennis. You have to use a relaxed grip, tightening it only upon impact. Toes - your shoe seems like it's too tight for you, or you've got flat feet.
There are many ways to counter this. As visor said it may be an irregular grip or shoe fitting problem. But it is quite common for people to get wear and tear in these areas. Everyones body and skin is different and will react to the rubbing differently. Taping your toes wont give you much help i would not reccomend that. Either wear another pair of socks or use bandaids. With your thumb taping may work aswell. But i would again use bandaids as they are easier on the skin.
Alright, thanks for your replies! Though, about the gripping I think I am doing it right as the loosening and tightening of the grip is what is causing the rubbing and pain. With the feet, I have over fourty different pairs of shoes and about half of them are for sports. I have tried all of them (obviously not all on badminton) but they still give the same pain so I do not think the shoes are the problem. Also, I DO have flat feet but I did not know that would have an effect like this. That is weird, I have never heard about that before. About the bandaids, I do not like to use them because they tend to fall off too easily and if I use a few bandaids everytime I play badminton, that could get quite expensive. Thanks for your help!
Hmm . . . where did my previous post go? I had quite a lengthy reply to you guys and it did not even show up. Dang, that is frustrating. So much time and typing gone to waste. lol Also, I would think that using medical tape (or any other type of tape though medical tape was made to be on and around skin) would work since the cause of rawness is the rubbing of the skin due to an outside element so if I tape that area up, the friction would no longer be applied onto the skin, rather on the tape itself so I would think that would help. Am I wrong about that since you guys advised me not to use tape?
Yes and no. You're mixing up symptoms with underlying causes. Medical tape will stop the friction from damaging your skin, as you say. And band-aids will achieve the same thing. But that friction is a sign that something else is wrong (grip too tight, shoes wrong size/shape?) You should be trying to fix those problems too.
Yeah, I AM trying to prevent it, that is why I am resorting to medical tape. lol See, the pain with the thumb is very minimal and I can deal with that, but it is the feet that are bothering me. As I have mentioned before, I have MANY different pairs of shoes so I doubt that is the problem. Though what alexh said is very true but my problem is that I have no idea how to correct it so I have to resort to straight prevention with stopping the friction with medical tape. OH! LOL I just realized something that could be of EXTREME importance! I forgot to inform you guys that I have REALLY nice, soft skin. Actually the thing is that I naturally have really bad dry skin so I compensate by moisturizing a lot and I now have really nice skin, but if I miss out even a little bit on my daily routine, my skin would just die infront of my eyes so I like to baby my skin. lol I also play a lot of piano and I like to REALLY baby my hands. HAHA! I guess I just TOTALLY answered this ENTIRE thread just with my previous paragraph. Howcome I did not notice that earlier? lol
It's nothing to do with soft skin, or moisturising. Your equipment is unsuitable, or there's something badly wrong with your technique, or both. Taping is a temporary solution only. You may have 40 pairs of shoes, but all of them are useless unless specifically made for badminton (e.g. tennis or running shoes are just an injury waiting to happen). And all your badminton shoes are useless if they are the wrong size or shape for your feet. You should also consider wearing thicker socks. Most "sports" socks are unsuitable, as they are too thin and do not provide any cushioning. Get some thick socks with a soft, lofted inside (e.g. Thorlos tennis, maximum cushioning). They may not be cheap, but they'll last for years if you wash them correctly (inside-out + fabric softener). Your hand soreness could be happening because you're holding the racket too tightly, or your grip surface is poor, or both. The default grip that comes with rackets is far too rough and unyielding, and the handle is also too small for most hands. Try adding a PU replacement grip on top; you may need more than one layer to build up the right grip size.
gollum's post +1 try to add a karakal super pu grip to it over the original grip, this works for me when the grips are too small as for the feet problem, i'd say go to a store and try on different shoe sizes badminton shoes fit differently than regular shoes for some people, a +.5 on regular shoe size works for others it's -.5 you should also try for the "wide" yonex/victor shoes
Alright, thank you guys for all your posts and help! I will try everything you guys have mentioned and try to get to the bottom of this! lol Oh, I forgot to ask, what is PU grip? Sorry, but I have been trying to focus more on improving my technique so I do not know much about equipment. The only thing I know is that I added a towel overgrip because I have insanely sweaty palms.
Pu is the short form for poly urethane it is the name the polymer (plastic) used in the grip most synthetic grips out there use pu I find towel grips kinda numbing to the hands so I stick to pu grips if you wanna try pu grips i'd probably say you'll need grip powder as well pu grips can get slippery when you have wet hands Ohh the nano60's from karaka. Are decent for wet hands because there is a layer of drying powder on the underside of the grip and it somewhat wicks moisture off the grip due to its design though that grip can wear out quick easy if you play a lot
Alright, so if there were to be something wrong with my shoes, what would it be? Too loose or tight in the front? I am starting to think that it might be too tight then? Though, if it was looser, wouldn't my feet move around and slide a lot more on the inside, creating more friction?
Oh! See, this is what I mean, watch this video and look for Taufik's right thumb. He has it taped up exactly how I do it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCXEX9NGjOg&feature=PlayList&p=ZrsPZnsSQvw
