Why do you need to wear hand wraps for Boxing, MMA, Muay Thai and other combat sports?

Chances are that at some point towards the beginning of your training you were told you need hand wraps to wear underneath your gloves. Hand wraps of course make your hand safer, but not many people actually know how they do that.

How can hands get damaged?

If we break any combat sport down on a basic level, we can see that the hands take impacts in two ways. The first is through striking, where the hand is used to harm the opponent. Usually this is through punching, but not always. Depending on the sport and rules, hammer fists and back fists can sometimes be legal moves. The second way the hands receive impact is through blocking. This could be punches, knees, elbows or kicks, some of which may be pretty powerful. When blocking it’s not always the back of the hand which gets hit. Sometimes it’s the side of the hand, or in some cases even the palm, through deflections or parrying. Take a look at the Muay Thai long guard for example, where the palms are facing the opponent. It’s easy to see how a strike could hit the hand wrong.

As padded as boxing gloves are, there isn’t always a lot they can do to protect these blows. Instead think of gloves and hand wraps as one system, with one layer to protect your opponent, and one layer to protect yourself. The hand is formed of 27 small bones, all of which take a huge amount of shock with each hit. Tight, well-fitting hand wraps hold everything in place and reduce a lot of the ability for bones to break or fracture by giving them support.

What types of hand wraps are there?

There are really two main categories of hand wraps; professional hand wraps and training hand wraps. Professional wrapping is most commonly seen in fights, but can also be seen among many high level boxers during training. Professional hand wraps usually consist of layers of thin gauze and tape, which is often applied by a cornerman or trainer. What most people refer to when they say ‘hand wraps’ are the ones used for training, which you wrap up yourself. They’re the ones we’re mostly referring to in this article.

Training hand wraps are themselves broken down with a few different options. Some hand wraps have a stretch to them (often you’ll find these as ‘Mexican’ hand wraps), meaning they fit the hand tighter and often form to the shape of the hand a lot closer, and then some hand wraps are non-stretch, which are usually (but not always) a slightly thicker material which fits slightly differently and doesn’t risk being too tight. Both types will do a great job at keeping you safe, so the fit is really down to what you prefer. The team here at Fight Quality mostly prefer stretch wraps, however there are a lot of people who would disagree.

Inner gloves are also an option, and when you’re in a rush before a short training session, they can be a great option to have available, however the protection will never be as good as hand wraps because of the way inner gloves fit on the hand. If you have the time and you’re doing a standard length training session, then always opt for hand wraps if possible. Some fighters even use both inner gloves and hand wraps, for best of both, however that really depends on the size of gloves you use and what you personally find most comfortable.

 

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