Hygiene During Training
In the other thread folks started talking about if drawing blood should stop a sparring session. I think that in this day & age there are many legitimate health concerns to be aware of during training.
The following is a compilation of things from different sources.
It also brings up the important point that any dojo should have a fully stocked first aid kit and latex gloves on hand in order to observe the Center for Disease Control recommended "Universal Precautions" for exposed body fluids.
Also please read the very good article posted on this website: http://www.uechi-ryu.com/aids2.htm
focused on HIV concerns.
If you want to read the 66 page document on Universal Precautions for yourself, you can download it at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/guide/InfectControl98.pdf
My personal regimen is to wash my hands (including under the finger nails) and face before each workout and immediately after each workout. (Unles a cut happens during a workout - that I take care of right away) Toe nails and finger nails should be clean & clipped short. Any open cuts or semi-healed cuts or scrapes should be covered with a band-aide and then with tape over that. Again Ð I am not a doctor nor do I play one on TV. So some of this may be un-needed and some may be flat out wrong. If it is Ð I hope someone will be kind enough to correct.
If you have a formal dojo policy in place and would be comfortable sharing it on the forum Ð please do.
Thanks,
Dana
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To protect against the transmission of disease, a dojo should have some kind of policy in place to minimize the risk of transmission of HIV, Hepatitis-B and other blood borne pathogens during training. Organizations such as the NCAA, the National Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Sports Medicine, and the U.S. Olympic Committee have concluded that persons affected with blood-borne pathogens, particularly HIV, should not be barred from participating in contact sports.
The already slight risk of transmission of HIV and other blood-borne pathogen diseases can be reduced further by adopting the Center for Disease Control-recommended "Universal Precautions". Generally this means everyone in a martial arts school should treat all exposed body fluids as if they were infected.
Here are some good ideas to follow:
1. If you have any open cuts or sores, you must clean them with a suitable antiseptic (like soap and water - followed by neosporin) and cover them securely with a leakproof dressing before coming into class. Make sure that the cut or sore stays covered while you are training. If you have cuts or sores on your feet, you may want to wear shoes until they heal. If you notice that someone else has an open cut or sore remind them that they need to clean it and cover it before they start training.
2. If a bleeding wound, even a minor one, occurs during training, the person bleeding shall immediately stop training and leave the mat until the bleeding stops and the wound is securely covered. Immediate measures shall be taken to stop the bleeding. Usually, after washing it, if you put compression on the area for five minutes straight (with no peeking) a minor cut will stop bleeding and you can bandage and cover it. If the person needs help to do this then the person helping should wear a pair of latex gloves (which are available in the dojo first aid kit Ð hint, hint Ð get a kit!). Hands shall be washed with soap and hot water immediately after gloves are removed. All used gloves, bloody dressings and rags, etc should be placed in a leakproof plastic bag (i.e. ziplock bag) provided for that purpose. All contaminated items should be disposed of carefully. Minor bloodstains on uniforms should be treated with a disinfectant. If there are major blood stains a uniform then it should be removed as soon as possible, placed into a leakproof container and handled carefully until it can be laundered or disposed of.
3. If you come into contact with the blood of another, you MUST immediately stop training, leave the training area and wash the exposed area thoroughly with soap and hot water before returning.
4. If blood is present on the mat or the floor, the training partner of the person bleeding must make sure that no one inadvertently comes into contact with the blood, while the bleeding person attends to his injury. The blood should be cleaned up as soon as possible by wiping the exposed surface with a disinfectant solution. (This means you should probably have some kind of disinfectant solution on hand ahead of time) Each person assisting with this task needs to wear latex gloves and then must wash their hands with soap and hot water immediately after the gloves are removed. It is best if the person who did the bleeding cleans up their own blood.
Remember there are other diseases and illnesses aside from those transmitted through blood. You are responsible for not only your own health and safety but the health and safety the other people you train with. If you know or suspect that you have any illness or disease which might infect others refrain from training until you are no longer a risk to others.
So if you have a bad fever or the flu or something -- STAY HOME -- and get well. DonÕt come to the school and get the rest of us sick!!!
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information for this came from: www.cdc.gov
and http://www.telmedpak.com/generalpublics.asp?a=health_Tips&b=cuts
and http://www.cdc.gov/safeusa/sports/martial.htm
and
some website a long time ago that I can't find now. If it was yours, let me know.
Blood and other body fluids in the dojo
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Dana Sheets
- Posts: 2715
- Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2002 6:01 am
Blood and other body fluids in the dojo
Some thoughts:
"If you have any open cuts or sores, you must clean them with a suitable antiseptic (like soap and water - followed by neosporin) and cover them securely with a leakproof dressing before coming into class."
A good idea, however, not going to reduce the risk of viral disease. Once the soap and water is gone, it has no effect on decreasing viral shedding from the wound. Neosporin is antibacterial, not to my knowledge with any antiviral activity. The fact is that any dressing can get ripped off while you're fighting and the wound is then likely traumatized and leaking potentially dangerous fluids.
Re: the other advice, it's worth keeping in mind that the risk of getting HIV from an infected person by jabbing a used needle from that person into your arm or by having unprotected sex is about 1/200. That ain't much. And there's been no reported transmission by a solid needle--they need to be hollow, and contain an "inoculum" of bad stuff.
While at work with anyone and CERTAINLY with people I know to have HIV or viral hepatitis, etc, I wear masks, gloves, gowns as indicated. But I have to make honest recommendations to people who plan on having sex out in the world. You can't glove gown and mask and have any kind of real intimacy. That's why safe sex is just "safer" and never risk free. Why do I say this? Well, the recommended level of precaution is fine and I endorse it. It's not that inconvenient. BUT think about whether the people you train with are more likely to have a dangerous virus than the people you might date. And you're not going to glove and soap and water your hands after the more risky behaviors one typically haas with someone they're dating. Washing under the nails or even the hands is unlikely to help with the dangerous viruses. They reduce spread of bacteria more often--if you nail gouged an hiv patient's skin and blood under your nails, your risk of hiv rubbing your eyes or eating without washing first are as close to zero as makes essentially no difference.
I guess I'm just saying, sure, follow the recs, but, don't freak out if you get a spot of someone's blood on you. The odds virtually zero that they're going to have HIV etc and that it's going to infect you are very small. The major thing to avoid is blood on a wound or mucous membrane of yours. It would be extraordinary if you got hiv or hepatitis no matter how much blood is poured on intact skin.
"If you have any open cuts or sores, you must clean them with a suitable antiseptic (like soap and water - followed by neosporin) and cover them securely with a leakproof dressing before coming into class."
A good idea, however, not going to reduce the risk of viral disease. Once the soap and water is gone, it has no effect on decreasing viral shedding from the wound. Neosporin is antibacterial, not to my knowledge with any antiviral activity. The fact is that any dressing can get ripped off while you're fighting and the wound is then likely traumatized and leaking potentially dangerous fluids.
Re: the other advice, it's worth keeping in mind that the risk of getting HIV from an infected person by jabbing a used needle from that person into your arm or by having unprotected sex is about 1/200. That ain't much. And there's been no reported transmission by a solid needle--they need to be hollow, and contain an "inoculum" of bad stuff.
While at work with anyone and CERTAINLY with people I know to have HIV or viral hepatitis, etc, I wear masks, gloves, gowns as indicated. But I have to make honest recommendations to people who plan on having sex out in the world. You can't glove gown and mask and have any kind of real intimacy. That's why safe sex is just "safer" and never risk free. Why do I say this? Well, the recommended level of precaution is fine and I endorse it. It's not that inconvenient. BUT think about whether the people you train with are more likely to have a dangerous virus than the people you might date. And you're not going to glove and soap and water your hands after the more risky behaviors one typically haas with someone they're dating. Washing under the nails or even the hands is unlikely to help with the dangerous viruses. They reduce spread of bacteria more often--if you nail gouged an hiv patient's skin and blood under your nails, your risk of hiv rubbing your eyes or eating without washing first are as close to zero as makes essentially no difference.
I guess I'm just saying, sure, follow the recs, but, don't freak out if you get a spot of someone's blood on you. The odds virtually zero that they're going to have HIV etc and that it's going to infect you are very small. The major thing to avoid is blood on a wound or mucous membrane of yours. It would be extraordinary if you got hiv or hepatitis no matter how much blood is poured on intact skin.
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Dana Sheets
- Posts: 2715
- Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2002 6:01 am
Blood and other body fluids in the dojo
Ian,
Thanks for your comments.
The washing under the nails is more about not spreading bacterial things or not getting them from somone else. I wear contacts to train so once I'm done - I touch my eyes to take them out. That's one of the reasons I focus on washing my hands before and after training.
I hate catching colds.
Dana
Thanks for your comments.
The washing under the nails is more about not spreading bacterial things or not getting them from somone else. I wear contacts to train so once I'm done - I touch my eyes to take them out. That's one of the reasons I focus on washing my hands before and after training.
I hate catching colds.
Dana
Blood and other body fluids in the dojo
Ian -
Good no-nonsense information - and some of the statistics are surprising - thanks for posting them. I believe many of us can get too easily "freaked out" about disease transmission after so much media hype on things like getting HIV from mosquitoes - all of that.
Question: from experience the bandage issue in a dojo is tricky. Sweat and conditioning exercises cause bandaids and the like to fall off easily. What I used to require when I taught was that any open wound had to not only be covered by a bandage, but wrapped, usually around the limb with gauze and then taped. Would you consider that a safe enough way of dealing with an open wound in a training situation?
Also, what about blood spattering into an eye? Are the transmission risks considerably higher that way?
It just seems to me that there are a lot of places blood can land other than unbroken skin - eyes, nose, mouth... and this may seem silly, but what about those little torn places on fingers caused by hangnails?
As long as we're dispelling myths here - there has been hype about that as well! Please add your comments when you're not working too many long hours!
Thanks,
Lori
Good no-nonsense information - and some of the statistics are surprising - thanks for posting them. I believe many of us can get too easily "freaked out" about disease transmission after so much media hype on things like getting HIV from mosquitoes - all of that.
Question: from experience the bandage issue in a dojo is tricky. Sweat and conditioning exercises cause bandaids and the like to fall off easily. What I used to require when I taught was that any open wound had to not only be covered by a bandage, but wrapped, usually around the limb with gauze and then taped. Would you consider that a safe enough way of dealing with an open wound in a training situation?
Also, what about blood spattering into an eye? Are the transmission risks considerably higher that way?
It just seems to me that there are a lot of places blood can land other than unbroken skin - eyes, nose, mouth... and this may seem silly, but what about those little torn places on fingers caused by hangnails?
As long as we're dispelling myths here - there has been hype about that as well! Please add your comments when you're not working too many long hours!
Thanks,
Lori
