Turf burn is a type that occurs when someone falls against the turf. If you play hockey, soccer, or football you may collide with other players and you get scratches on your skin or body. Truf may be safer than grass. For example, it provides cushioning than grass during winter. It depends on your falling, turf burn can cover a large section of your skin.
How to look like turf burn?
If you’re playing football, hockey, or any of these types of sports. These sports are commonly played on turf. If you fall against the turf you get injured. You might even find that layers of skin get taken off after falling.
Just because some skin is missing after your scrimmage, it doesn’t generally mean that you’re dealing with turf burn. Turf burn refers to a type of injury that occurs when there is friction between your skin and artificial turf.
Symptoms
Typically this is developing a bruise on your legs, knee, or arms. These falls may even cause scraps of your skin or scratches. But not every scrap from a fall is turf burn. Turf burn is different from other scratches that may occur from other injuries. The main difference is occurs after falling on artificial turf. Friction causes these types of skin abrasions. The heat generated from this friction removes your skin.
Staph infection
Turns but can lead to a staph infection caused by the staphylococcus bacteria. This type of bacteria is found on the skin but this enters the body through cuts or scraps. It is life-threatening if it enters your bloodstream. If you suspect that you get staph infection tell your doctor immediately. Symptoms may include:
Fever
Vomiting
Nausea
Worsening redness and pain after the area was starting to heal
Treatment of turf burn
To reduce the risks of infection you should treat turf burn immediately. Here is how to treat turf burn at home:
1. If you have any bleeding gently apply pressure to the wound
2. Once the bleeding stops, rinse the wound with plain water and pat the area with a dry cloth. It is vital to remove all specks of dirt. It may be difficult to clean a turf burn during pain, but to avoid the infection it is necessary.
3. Apply any antiseptic ointment on the wound. If you don’t have an antiseptic ointment, you get to apply a thin layer of aloe vera on the wound. Researchers suggest that aloe vera may also have wound-healing properties. Alo vera is a natural process. Aloe vera can reduce inflammation and provide a cooling sensation.
4. You may want to cover the abrasion with hydrogel or sterile gloves which protect against bacteria.
5. Cover the dressing with the breathable cotton bandages. This cotton holds the dressing in its place.
6. Continue to apply antiseptic ointment and a new bandage daily until the wound heals.
See your doctor if your wound is not well and if your pain level worsens.
Prevention
Preventing turf burns is not easy. If the player continues to play the sport it always a risk of falling onto the artificial turf and getting a new turf burn. Protection from turf burns people wear protective dress while playing soccer, football, and hockey. This cloth includes long-sleeved shirts, spandex shorts, and long socks. Shin pads with long socks also protect from prone leg injuries.
When to see a doctor
If the turf burn becomes infected, you should right away visits the doctor. If the infection doesn’t heal it infects other parts of the body.
The signs of infection include:
Blisters
Fever
Pain
Oozing pus
Increased skin redness
A turf nurn may take a few weeks to heal, but it will not usually leave a scar.
Other skin conditions active men should know about
While turn burn is an incredibly painful and frustratingly slow-healing skin problem you can get from tussling around on astroturf, it’s not only the condition you have to worry about as a physically active guy.
Even if you’re working out at a clean, fancy schmancy gym, fungi and bacteria can still thrive on workout equipment.
These include:
Plantar warts
Ringworm
Athlete’s foot
Folliculitis
Plantar warts
Caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), plantar warts show up as a callus-like spot on the sole, ball, or heel of your foot. Though HPV causes these warts, it’s perhaps at least somewhat comforting that plantar warts are caused by a different strain than the one that leads to genital warts. Plantar warts can be painful to walk on and generally unpleasant. For this reason, you’ll want to ensure to keep your feet covered with sandals or sneakers at all times at the gym out on the floor, and in the locker room.
Ringworm
Ringworm can show up anywhere on your body but is most likely to rear its ugly head on your thighs, upper arms, or torso. This fungi infection leads to a red ring forming on the surface of your skin that is itchy and scaly.
The fungus that causes ringworm is the happiest and healthiest in warm, wet environments. For this reason, you’ll want to keep your eye out for sweaty gym equipment and make sure you wipe down any machines that seem to be dripping with the sweat of another.
Athlete’s foot
You’ve likely heard of an athlete’s foot, but you might not realize that it refers to the same type of fungus that gives you jock itch. Whether it shows up on your feet, armpits, or groin, this is something that you’d prefer to avoid.
Do you know about turf toe?
The turf toe is the sprain of the main joint in the big toe. This injury is a metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint sprain. Turf toe happens when you bend your big toe up toward the top of your foot too far. Turf toe can also affect soccer and basketball players, martial artists, and ballet dancers because they constantly use their feet on hard surfaces.
Symptoms of turf toe
The most noticeable symptom of turf toe is pain around the big toe area, including the joint that goes up your foot towards your ankle. You may also notice a popping sound when you first bend the toe too far and feel the pain. Other symptoms include:
Swelling around the nig toe and joint
Stiffness in the toe joint
Not being able to move the toe around normally
Tenderness or sensitivity around the toe and nearby joint
Causes of turf toe
Turf toe is caused by bending the big toe too far back toward your foot. When this happens the big toe area and the MTP joint known as the plantar complex, can get injured. Areas that may be affected by turftoe include:
Plantar plate:
A structure that keeps your big toe from being bent too far up.
Sesamoids:
Two small bones that help absorb weight on the front of your foot.
Collateral ligaments:
Bands of tissues that connect your toe bones and keep the big toe from bending too much to either side of your foot.
Flexor hallucis brevis:
A tendon that helps the big toe when you put your weight on it when running or jumping.
Treatment
There are three grades of turf toe injuries. Treatment will depend on the injury grade. According to some researchers, there are currently no evidence-based guidelines for treating turf toe.
Grade 1
Grade 1 injuries, the least serious of the three, can be treated at home using the RICE method:
Rest:
Stop doing activities that can make your injury worse and give your toe a break so the sprain can heal.
Ice:
Apply a cold pack of ice in a plastic bag to the area to keep the swelling and inflammation down.
Compression:
Wrap a bandage around your foot or toes. Keeping your big toe tapped to your other toes can prevent it from making the injury worse.
Elevation:
Lie down with your foot up to help drain fluid and keep swelling down.
Taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can help manage your pain until the injury heals.
Grade 3
You may need surgery to treat a grade 3 injury if it causes a bone break, a ligament tear, or severe joint damage. The type of surgery you’ll need depends on what part of your plantar complex needs treatment. If the injury causes a broken bone, your doctor will need to repair the bone. You may need to wear a cast to protect the toe until it fully heals.
I am a medical student. I researched turf burns.
Writer name:
Ifrah Khalid