HRM bothering skin and leaving scratch marks.. solution?

silhouettes

Hello, I just bought the Polar RCX5 in April when my other polar broke. At first everything was ok.. but that was when I wasn't using it as regularly.

Lately I have been using it for an hour or two a day in a row.. sometimes longer.

I have developed what looks like a scratch underneath my left boob that stretches around to my side.. a few inches long and about a half an inch length. On the right side it's not as bad, just on the side a scrap. The one on my left side seems to be just getting worse... and I thought I even seen bleeding. I stopped wearing the monitor for about a week and it started to heal, but when I put it back on it got worse AGAIN.

I love this HRM... and I don't want to stop wearing it but the strap is killing me! I tried putting something between it and the skin.. but part of the hurt area is where the HRM reader is I guess, cuz when I do that it goes to 0 HRM and stops working. Today I tried to loosen it.. and it kept screwing up and loosing my HRM to low or to high.. and even though I toughed that out when I got home and took it off it STILL irritated the marks when it was decently loose.

I am not sure what to do.. has anyone else had this problem? Is there any solution? I really love this HRM, I got it for the running stats and the GPS I bought with it.. but it's really starting to hurt me.

The part it hurts is just where the top of the HRM touches my skin, there is no marks on the bottom where it touches and I can't wear it lower, I tried.. any suggestions?

__Di__

Hello, I just bought the Polar RCX5 in April when my other polar broke. At first everything was ok.. but that was when I wasn't using it as regularly.

Lately I have been using it for an hour or two a day in a row.. sometimes longer.

I have developed what looks like a scratch underneath my left boob that stretches around to my side.. a few inches long and about a half an inch length. On the right side it's not as bad, just on the side a scrap. The one on my left side seems to be just getting worse... and I thought I even seen bleeding. I stopped wearing the monitor for about a week and it started to heal, but when I put it back on it got worse AGAIN.

I love this HRM... and I don't want to stop wearing it but the strap is killing me! I tried putting something between it and the skin.. but part of the hurt area is where the HRM reader is I guess, cuz when I do that it goes to 0 HRM and stops working. Today I tried to loosen it.. and it kept screwing up and loosing my HRM to low or to high.. and even though I toughed that out when I got home and took it off it STILL irritated the marks when it was decently loose.

I am not sure what to do.. has anyone else had this problem? Is there any solution? I really love this HRM, I got it for the running stats and the GPS I bought with it.. but it's really starting to hurt me.

The part it hurts is just where the top of the HRM touches my skin, there is no marks on the bottom where it touches and I can't wear it lower, I tried.. any suggestions?

OP, why would it not be possible to wear it lower, is it because it would slip down?

fleetzz

Could you be developing an allergy? Try calling Polar and see if they have any suggestions.

sandy_gee

Allergiiiiiiiiies. I discovered I was allergic to the strap that my Pyle HRM was made of. Didn't have an issue in the beginning, then it started to show and looked almost like as you said, scratch and little cuts but never actually bled. Just looked like it did. And of course just dotted red all around like a rash ish in other places.

I had to switch to a different brand, haven't had any problems with the Polar FT4 strap material!

silhouettes

I tried, for starters my body shape is odd.. and if it goes any lower it is on my tummy which is ALOT bigger than under my boobs where I war it.. the strap won't go out that far and when I tested it just holding it there while walking around the house to see if it would even work if I bought a bigger one, it wasn't connecting as well.

jnsb

I've had the same problem, and it was due to chafing. You can try Body Glide in that area before you apply the strap, although it feels weird and slides around a little once you start sweating. Even that didn't work on long runs for me, though, and it got painful enough that I just stopped wearing it.

silhouettes

I have no clue about allergies, I haven't even thought of that.

The strap I have is the one that came with it, think it's called a wear link or something, it's a soft strap all around.

What alternative is there to this strap that would fit the snap in sensor?