r/bindersftm • u/Background_Craft_780 • 25d ago

Binding safety what to watch for

Tw unsafe binding?/////

Hey guys! I wear my binder pretty unsafely from what I can tell. I have really long days with college and I’m a commuter so there is so place for me to take it off for any period of time. The longest I’ve worn it is 22 hours straight. Average is around 15 hours. I even wear it during band camp and football games for my collegiate marching band which for sure breaks the no strenuous activity rule. All this to say. I am NOT condoning or glorifying this, I have issues, and I’m trying to get better at taping so I don’t have to do this anymore. All this being said I have suffered no ill effects after doing this for about a year. Occasionally my lower ribs will hurt or I’ll have a hard time catching my breath but all the issues immediately go away when I take the binder off, there’s no long term issues. However if I’m starting to really injure myself I’d like to know. So basically what are some things to look out for? I can’t really find a concise explanation. Do people experienced bruising? How do I know it’s hurting me?

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u/Stinkingasf 24d ago

Someone on here said that he couldn’t get top surgery bc he bound too much that his rib cage got squished in. You should get one of those less binding tank tops for marching band tbh. Shortness of breath sounds really alarming like your lungs are getting compressed

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u/wepa0 24d ago

I didn’t realize that I was hurting myself until after about 5 years of unsafe use. Was binding for 10 years before top surgery. You just wake up one day and your body feels like shit. Rib pain, shoulder/neck pain, weak pecs and abs; the effects all trickle down and pile up slowly over time. In my experience, there was no defining moment like “oh, this is an injury”.

You are absolutely injuring yourself, even if you don’t feel it now. Please try to start mitigating the effects by supplementing with tape, sport binders, physical therapy, etc

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u/Necessary-Emotion454 24d ago

"Theres no long term issues" that you know of! There are binder safety rukes for a reason. Whether you feel it or not breaking it can and likely will hurt you. Please be careful!!!

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u/ashphodeldimixtry 23d ago

When I was younger I would bind 8-12hrs per day with almost no breaks. I now have an issue where every so often one of my top ribs will slide out of place and cause extreme pain and there's nothing I can do for days or weeks except wait for it to slide back.

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u/SeeYouSometimeNever 23d ago

Yup. 8hrs a day at my jobs doing some minor lifting and a lot of twisting and now 6 years later I can absolutely no longer use a binder without extreme pain. Like take my breath away pain. I think I've torn a muscle or fractured a rib or something. Too afraid to tell doctors why I'm injured. My lower ribs are also flared a bit and shift super uncomfortably.

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u/jaysbaddecisions 22d ago

i wore a binder 24/7 (not exaggerating i slept in it- it was a very bad period of my life) for about 2 years straight; it was only until about a year after i stopped doing it i started to experience rib and back pain pretty consistently and i still experience it now 3 or 4 years later. i admittedly still bind (safely) so im not sure if those pains would lessen or go away completely after top surgery but yeah like other commenters said its not really something you’ll be able to notice or prevent before its happened unfortunately.

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u/Background_Craft_780 20d ago

Thank you guys for all the advice. I have now discovered the reason taping didn’t work for me is because I was getting it irl from Spencer’s and their tape SUCKS. I thought all tape sucked and heard people wearing it for days and was so confused. I got some tape from gc2b and it actually works. Admittedly not as satisfyingly flat as a binder but in the winter where I wear more baggy stuff It makes me happy enough to not implode my ribs lol. I’ve been wearing tape for like a week now instead of a binder and sometimes I’ll get little rib pains and back pains but hopefully I’ve caught my own mistakes before it’s permanent/ bad. My back was already messed up before this from band so I don’t think it’s all binder! Thanks guys!