Boxing is one of the most dangerous sports in the entire world. The risk of injuring yourself—is extremely high, as the impact you’ll feel from constantly punching—is huge. That’s why you must wear protective gear at all times, especially for your hands.
Wearing hand wraps when you box—will ensure both the short and long-term safety of your hands, fingers, and wrists. According to a study, hand injuries are the most common amongst boxers. As a result, you should prioritize protecting these parts in your body, especially when there’s constant impact on them.
Another common injury in boxing—is to the head. That’s why, other than professional boxers, wearing headgear—is a must. The hand is no different. You want to protect it at all costs. In our case, nonetheless, the price is to simply buy hand wraps and gloves.
It’s quite ironic that hand injuries are named after the sport of punching. Precisely, boxer’s injuries are most common amongst, well, boxers. However, any impact that may come your way and catch you unprepared, will cause similar damage.
A boxer’s fracture is a break in the neck of the 5th metacarpal bone in the hand. It gets its name because the injury is common in inexperienced boxers. The metacarpal bones are the intermediate bones of the hand found inside the flat part of the hand.
Before we dive into the article, I encourage you to follow the link to read more about whether boxing without shoes is possible. You’ll be surprised at the answer.
Can you box without hand wraps?
Your number one priority should be to keep yourself as healthy as possible. When you box, you’re extremely likely to hurt yourself. That’s why you must wear protective gear whenever you train. Boxing competitions will require you to wear protective gear, as they want to ensure the safety of their competitors.
You can box without hand wraps, but you greatly improve the risk of injuring either your hand, wrist, or fingers. As such, you should always wear hand wraps and boxing gloves when you do any activity that’s related to boxing, including sparring, training, and heavy bag training. Not while shadowboxing, of course.
These findings suggest WRAP significantly reduces punching force, which may be important for long-term safety of the puncher’s hand and/or the person receiving the strike. (Source)
As you can see, the impact your hands will suffer without hand wraps—is higher than with. In the long-term, this difference in the numbers matter, a lot.
Gloves have a similar effect. That’s why both professional and amateur boxers have to wear both pieces of equipment at all times. That’s to ensure the impact they receive—is much lower, and as such, to ensure their injury rate—diminishes.
Concluding boxing will ensure you feel great impact to your hands. As such, reducing that amount will lower the rate of injury. Even if your punch is perfect, you can end up hurting yourself in the training process.
Are hand wraps necessary?
Hand wraps are necessary in boxing competitions, but not in training. You don’t have to wear them when you hit the heavy bag, but it’s highly recommended that you do. If you wear gloves, however, you may not feel inclined to wear hand wraps. Regardless, you can do so, to ensure you keep your hands safe.
Best boxing hand wraps
Buying the best boxing hand wraps—is crucial for your long-term health. You don’t want to just buy a low-quality item that’ll disappoint you. As such, here’s the best one you can buy for your money.
Sanabul Elastic Professional Handwraps
If you decide to purchase these durable and elastic hand wraps, you’ll be extremely satisfied with their price and quality. Some may not be willing to spend plenty of money on such an item. As such, you may be more eager to buy it, as it’s cheaper than the average. That’s why I personally have bought them.
Can you wear boxing gloves without hand wraps?
Wearing one layer of protective equipment—isn’t a wise choice. You want to have as little impact as possible. By doing so, you’re minimizing the odds that you’ll experience any type of hand injury, including the boxer’s fracture.
You can wear boxing gloves without hand wraps and still ensure the long-term safety of your hands. However, they’re a must-wear in competitions. Thus, if you don’t your wraps below your gloves, you might get disqualified for breaking the rules. In training, however, you don’t have to wear wraps below your gloves.
And still, some boxers may prefer only to wear gloves, as it may be more comfortable. Do know, however, that your hand will experience more impact. Of course, gloves should be enough to cover you from injuries. But, you can never know for sure.
Can you wear hand wraps without boxing gloves?
Not wearing boxing gloves above your hand wraps—is illegal in boxing competitions. In training, however, you don’t have to wear both hand protective equipment, while it’ll ensure both the short and long-term safety of your hands, fingers, and wrists. That’s why quality boxing gyms will require you to wear both.
The dangers of not wearing boxing hand wraps
Not wearing boxing hand wraps can be dangerous. After all, we’re talking about one of the sports that involves the most injuries. For that reason, you should strive to always wear protective gear, even if you don’t feel like wearing it.
The dangers of not wearing boxing hand wraps are as follows:
- Short-term hand/wrist/finger injury
- Long-term hand/wrist/finger injury
- Permanent hand injuries
- Irritate and damage the skin on the knuckles
- Being afraid of going “all-in”
- Forming bad habits because of pain
Hand injuries are the most common in the sport of boxing. They’re, for that reason, the body part you should protect the most. That’s why wearing both gloves and hand wraps—is mandatory in competitions.
If you want to ensure the long-term health of your hands, fingers, and wrists, it’ll be best to always wear hand wraps, from the start of the workout to its finish. By doing so, the impact your knuckles will feel—is going to, overall, be much lower. That will result in you being less prone to injuries.
Do you really want to spend time recovering from an injury? I bet you don’t; for a good reason. If you want to keep training and not spend time wishing you had worn protective gear, don’t pass on wearing hand wraps and gloves.
Should you wear hand wraps?
Whether you should wear protective gear—is a silly question. Our health should be the number one priority. Some well-being studies have shown the link also exists the other way around. If you’re happier, you’re less likely to experience certain physical conditions, such as heart disease.
You should always wear hand wraps when boxing, unless you’re shadowboxing. That’s because it’ll ensure the short and long-term safety of your wrist, hand, and fingers. Likewise, always pair your protective equipment with boxing gloves, as they’ll also reduce the impact while keeping your hand safer.
Our health is everything. Typically, we look back and appreciate our physical health only when it has diminished. As such, when we have the flu, we appreciate being able to breathe easily. On the same note, when moving your wrist brings great pain, you’ll be sorry for not protecting it.
That’s why you should always wear hand wraps and gloves, even if you don’t feel like it. Our brains tend to prefer current enjoyment over delayed gratification. As a result, you may feel, for some reason, that being bare-handed is cool. As such, you won’t be as inclined to wear hand wraps.
For that reason, it’ll be best if you always wear hand wraps. Also, you’ll develop good habits if, subconsciously, you’ll know that you’re safe. You’ll be going all in training and thus developing your punching power. If you want to read about ways to increase your punching power, follow the link.
Not wearing boxing hand wraps – here’s what will happen
The dangers of not wearing protective gear in one of the most dangerous sports worldwide—should be obvious. Nonetheless, I still encourage you to read this section, as it’ll encourage you to always take another step to protect both the short and long-term safety of your hands.
If you don’t wear boxing hand wraps when training, sparring, or competing, you’ll feel more physical pain in your knuckles. Additionally, you will hurt your hands permanently. As a result, always wear both gloves and hand wraps, even if you’re just training. Do yourself a favor and avoid the most common injury boxers experience.
I love to assume that not wearing hand protection—will inevitably permanently hurt your hands, even if in the slightest way. I recommend you to treat it in the same manner. While you may not currently feel the effects of the lack of protection, you might feel the results later in the future.
Frankly, I don’t understand people who don’t take the time to protect their hands. If you don’t know already, it’s the most common injury. It’s so common amongst inexperienced boxer that they named wrist damage – the boxer’s fracture.
I encourage you to always wear both boxing gloves and hand wraps, especially if you care about your long-term health. You don’t want to be older from now and regret not protecting yourself.
If you want to learn whether boxing is a safe sport and how to avoid getting injured in it, follow the link to an article of mine on the topic.
Final words
To end this article, I want to emphasize how important wearing hand wraps while boxing is. You never want to regret not doing something. That is, indeed, one of the worst feelings an individual can feel. As such, always wear protective equipment, to ensure you don’t experience any recovery time.
I know what it’s like to be eager about boxing, or any martial art. There’s always butterflies in the beginning of anything. However, you must ensure you don’t let the urge of overtraining, especially without equipment, take over. By not relaxing that urge, you’re much more likely to injure yourself.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you’ll also enjoy reading about the best boxing shoes for your money. They’ll help you amp up your skills a notch, do follow the link to see the best ones.
Likewise, if you want to protect your head, here’s the best boxing headgear you can buy. These will help you avoid head injuries, which are much more severe than hand ones.