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leahmeryl
Feb 5, 2003, 7:01 PM
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Wore shorts to the regular gym and got really funny looks because of all the bruises on my legs (which look horrible but don't really bother me otherwise). One woman I often chat with in the locker room asked me if everything was OK and whether I needed to talk about anything (I think she thinks I was beaten!).
Anyway, it occurred to me that I stopped wearring skirts to work because of the bruises. It's cold as hell right now, but in a few weeks I'm going to want to break out the minis and short shorts.
Any advice on how to avoid, treat, and cover the bruises? (I almost always wear pants when climbing and bouldering and don't even feel myself hitting anything)
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rockwomyn
Feb 5, 2003, 7:25 PM
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Personally I relish the bruises and am not really bothered by them.
But could you have a lack of iron or other nutrients...maybe talk to your doctor about being more prone to bruising, if it's severe....it could be a deficiency????? However, it seemed that when i first starting climbing i had a lot more. My legs always looks like ripe banana peels.
Maybe getting some sun on them may help..real sun would be ideal...fake bake???or self tanner??. Making not such a contrast between white skin and black and blue skin. Or nylons....YUCK, black tights hmmmmm...don't know it's been a while since i been on the rock!!!!! I miss my bruises.
[ This Message was edited by: rockwomyn on 2003-02-05 11:29 ]
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gunkjunkie
Feb 5, 2003, 9:04 PM
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I bruise easily too so I use arnica montana. It's a homeopathic remedy. Rub the cream on bruises and you can also get in in pill form when you have really bad bruises. I used it after a 15 foot grounder - had an ugly, large and rather painful alien shaped bruise on my butt (I landed on it busted the trigger wires ;-( ). The bruise was totally gone in about one week.
Hope this helps
Deirdre
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roseraie
Feb 5, 2003, 9:11 PM
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My roommate was making fun of my knees, like, 5 minutes ago. My legs are covered in bruises and scrapes, gotta love this sport! I'm proud of them, but I figure I should wear pants to my job interviews today. When this happened to me when I played soccer in high school, my doctor put me on iron supplements.
edit: my smiley didn't work.
[ This Message was edited by: roseraie on 2003-02-05 13:12 ]
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mwbtle
Feb 5, 2003, 9:20 PM
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I bang up my knees constantly. My boyfriend, who climbs with me and knows that I apparently climb with just my knees since I look terrible afterwards, winces when he sees them. I don't ever notice bashing them up, but they take it tough sometime between leaving for the gym and coming home from the gym. If you are really self-conscious about them, you could try dark tights or coverup or something I guess, but all I do is just tell people I went climbing, and they usually ignore them after that.
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katydid
Feb 5, 2003, 10:43 PM
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Vitamin C helps minimize bruising (like making sure you have it in your system, not taking it after you've already whacked yourself).
I think someone might have mentioned this, but make sure you're not anemic.
If you are in a position to do so, ice the area you smacked immediately afterward, or as close to immediately as you can.
Otherwise, just be proud of them war wounds.
k.
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estherator
Feb 5, 2003, 11:31 PM
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On that note, anyone know how to cover up the scrapes as well? I just signed up w/ an agency to do promo modeling and am concerned about showing up cut and bruised, but am unwilling to slow down on the climbing. (I make my own hours this way and can climb more-that's the point) I can't get away with wearing pants.
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aimeerose
Feb 6, 2003, 12:22 AM
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If you need to cover them up for modeling, use makeup. I know Sephora had tatoo coverup makeup (the professional stuff, like they use to cover up Angelina Jolie's tatoos about people she's no longer with )
Also, I'm sure they'll have makeup people who can help you out.
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katydid
Feb 6, 2003, 12:46 PM
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Look for Dermablend. It's the stuff that people with severe burn scars use to cover up the skin grafts so they look less, well, burned. It's really amazing stuff.
Kate
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arak42
Feb 6, 2003, 4:33 PM
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I am slightly Iron Decificient (SP?) anemic. I notice a large difference in the amount of bruises I get when take children's vitamens and make sure to eat things with iron in the. Also, the bruises I do get are not as severe and go away faster. I have heard the taking iron suppliments don't actually work except to turn your teeth gray.
(sorry, I am the worst speller!)
K
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rock_diva
Feb 6, 2003, 8:01 PM
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I'm anemic and bruise easily as well... I hadn't heard about arnica montana and I'd like to try it! Can I find it at a health food store?
A great alternative to iron supplements is black strap molasses (make sure it's black strap - sometimes called 'crude'- not regular molasses). A tablespoon of that has 20-30% of the daily iron requirement. Chase down a big spoonful of that with some orange juice - Vitamin C helps you absorb iron. Calcium blocks the absorption.
Can get at health food stores and some grocery stores.
*Doesn't taste too badly**sort of like black licorice
[ This Message was edited by: rock_diva on 2003-02-06 12:03 ]
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cracklover
Feb 7, 2003, 6:45 PM
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I noticed from your bio that you've just taken up climbing recently. My legs used to get bruised and scratched a lot more when I first started too. Take this modelling job as an opportunity to try to improve your technique. I don't mean this as a criticism, since sloppy footwork is normal for beginner climbers. And it certainly results in many more scrapes and bruises.
If you don't even notice that your legs are banging the wall, then you almost certainly could benefit from looking down more. One technique is called "quiet feet". That means trying to carefully position each foot placement. Put a little time into it, and you'll see the results not just in fewer bruises, but you'll love how much harder you can climb!
GO
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ecocliffchick
Feb 8, 2003, 9:39 PM
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Why is it that we women tend to climb with our knees? Every girl I see has these horrible bashed up knees (myself included) but I rarely see the same thing on the male climbers. Do you think it's because we are focusing on using power from our lower body and each "oomph" up the wall thrusts our whole lower torso into protruding bits of rock/plastic? That's my theory.
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aimeerose
Feb 8, 2003, 10:58 PM
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also wear pants to at least reduce the scrapes
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aimeerose
Feb 8, 2003, 10:59 PM
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also wear pants to at least reduce the scrapes
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shastess
Feb 11, 2003, 7:17 PM
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I am full on anemic and bruise like a peach. I have tried Iron suppliments and like most everyone else said they don't work so great (and in my case make me sick). The best thing that I can suggest is a multi-vitamin or even a pre-natal vitam, also a diet high in iron which is better absorbed due to the natural form. I know special K with red berries (the cereal) has a lot of iron in it.
Also things like spinach and red meat. I also know that potassium can help and banannas have tons of potassium and other good stuff. (too bad I can't stand bannanas either) Best of luck with minimizing the bruises and if you allready have them real tanning will help some and if not just show them off as battle wounds.
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tradaddict
Feb 19, 2003, 6:37 AM
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I've had the concerned looks too. We both generally have a laugh when I explain to them how I got the bruises, though I have found that I get more odd, or even dirty, looks from women than men. I wonder why that is? Do women hold each other up to such rediculous standards?
Deirdre
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sroehlk
Feb 20, 2003, 1:15 AM
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I can’t remember the last time I didn’t wear pants or a skirt with tights (have that on right now). My legs are nice and bruised. I wear pants climbing, but it doesn’t help much. But it always looks worse in the winter with my white white white legs. :D I can't wait for the warm sun!
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ecocliffchick
Feb 24, 2003, 6:24 PM
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I just got back from a week on real rock, and boy I forgot how much harder rock is than plastic! My knees look like they've been bashed with hammers!
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tonithegreat
Feb 25, 2003, 10:34 PM
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I bruise easily, too (though I'm not anemic or any such thing), and I just live with it. I suspect that like somebody on here said, as my technique improves, there will be less bruising. Sounds like make-up is the way to go if you need to bare those knees for modelling.
Toni
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missedyno
Feb 25, 2003, 11:35 PM
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yeah, i'd say "watch the technique" but every so often i do a high step and i'm looking more at where my foot will go and fail to notice the obstacles in the way.... *thud* *wack* oopsie
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grigriese
Feb 27, 2003, 1:08 AM
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cracklover
If it's for a big job ask around to see if there is a make-up artist who uses a dinair machine. this thing is amazing it airbrushes makeup on. Nothing works better. Dermablend looks like crap. If nothing else go to MAC and get them to custom match your skin tone with. Their makeup was originally formulated for camera not general use
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climbinggirl33
Feb 27, 2003, 5:43 AM
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Yeah - my miniskirt days are over.
Arnica is great - Welleda makes a nice cream. You can also find it in a lot of massage oils. It works for bruises and general aches and pains.
A guy I climb with just asked me tonight "how can you have such great technique but be so clumsy at the same time" - meaning good footwork but I still manage to smack my shins or smash my knees at least once a night - more inside than out though.
I've had to buy suits with long skirts for all of my job interviews . . . get some interesting looks.
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