Kerry Wood is headed to the disabled list for the 15th time in his career. This time it is due to a blister on his hand, which makes pitching impossible.
Cubs manager, Mike Quade, said:
I was really hoping the last few days that he could manage that thing and it didn’t get any better.
Kerry Wood has no luck when it comes to injuries. The blister is just the latest, but don’t laugh, they can be onerous to a pitcher.
What is a hand blister? Your skin is composed of layers, but when you apply constant friction the layers can separate and form pockets. The pockets fill with air, blood, puss or a clear bodily fluid. This is a blister.
What causes a hand blister? In most cases it is friction such as chopping wood, raking or something that is done over and over again. In some cases you can get a blister from a burn or a chemical. In Kerry’s case he probably got it from pitching.
How do you treat a hand blister? Most people assume you should pop a blister, but this isn’t the case. You should protect the blister and allow it to heal. The clear body liquid the blister fills with is plasma and will help the healing process. If the blister is popped, keep it clean and apply antibiotics to reduce the risk of infection.
How long does it take to recover from a hand blister? If the blister hasn’t popped it’ll take about a week to get back into playing form. If the blister has popped it should be less than a week unless infection has set. Infection will delay recovery an additional week.