Let’s face it, this isn’t the easiest topic to read about, but the reality is that skin infection is insidious, and within locker rooms and weight rooms, a moist environment and poor hygienic practices combined with an active infection can result in a breeding ground that can bring your athletic programs to a screeching halt.
Athletes are particularly vulnerable to attack because they often share close quarters during workouts. The opportunity for an infection to easily pass between students becomes orders of magnitude higher.
The National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) released a position statement in its Journal of Athletic Training in 2010 that is still widely referenced to this day. The objective of the statement was to present recommendations for the prevention, education and management of skin infections in athletes.
“The nature of athletics exposes the skin of its participants to a wide variety of stresses,” according to NATA’s statement. “Trauma,
environmental factors, and infectious agents act together to continually attack the integrity of the skin. Combined with the close quarters shared by athletes and generally poor hygiene practices, it is not difficult to see why skin infections cause considerable disruption to individual and team activities.”
The following recommendations come straight from the position statement, and high school strength coaches would do well to adopt these recommendations within their own plans of prevention.
Addressing Infection Prevention
Organizational support must be adequate to limit the spread of infectious agents. The administration must provide the necessary fiscal and human resources to maintain infection control. Custodial staffing must be increased to provide the enhanced vigilance required for a comprehensive infection-control plan
Adequate hygiene materials must be provided to the athletes, including antimicrobial liquid (not bar) soap in the shower and by all sinks.
Infection-control policies should be included in an institution’s policies and procedures manuals. Institutional leadership must hold employees accountable for adherence to recommended infection-control practices.
Athletic departments should contract with a team dermatologist to assist with diagnosis, treatment, and implementation of infection control.
Sanitization And Hygiene Practices To Beat Infection
A clean environment must be maintained in the athletic training facility, locker rooms and all athletic venues.
Cleaning and disinfection is primarily important for frequently touched surfaces such as wrestling mats, treatment tables, locker room benches, and floors. A detailed, documented cleaning schedule must be implemented for all areas within the infection control program, and procedures should be reviewed regularly.
The type of disinfectant or detergent selected for routine cleaning should be registered with the Environmental Protection Agency, and the manufacturer’s recommendations for amount, dilution, and contact time should be followed.
Athletes must be encouraged to follow good overall hygiene practices. Athletes must shower after every practice and game with an antimicrobial soap and water over the entire body. It is preferable for the athletes to shower in the locker rooms provided by the athletic department. Athletes should refrain from cosmetic body shaving.
Soiled clothing, including practice gear, undergarments, outerwear and uniforms must be laundered on a daily basis. Equipment, including knee sleeves and braces, ankle braces, etc., should be disinfected in the manufacturer’s recommended manner on a daily basis.
Athletes must be discouraged from sharing towels, athletic gear, water bottles, disposable razors, and hair clippers.
Athletes with open wounds, scrapes or scratches must avoid whirlpools and common tubs. Athletes are encouraged to report all abrasions, cuts, and skin lesions to and to seek attention from an athletic trainer for proper cleansing, treatment and dressing.
All acute, uninfected wounds (e.g., abrasions, blisters, lacerations) should be covered with a semiocclusive or occlusive dressing (e.g., film, foam, hydrogel, or hydrocolloid) until healing is complete to prevent contamination from infected lesions, items, or surfaces.
These are a few of the recommendations provided by the NATA’s position statement. It contains far more detailed information and should serve as a wake-up call for coaches who’ve never deployed measures to prevent these types of infections as a matter of protocol.
