If you are hit by another player or fall down when playing football, soccer, or hockey, your body may sustain minor bruises or scratches in various locations.
A turf burn is a painful abrasion that can occur if you play sports on artificial turf or lawn.
This injury may happen as a result of skidding or sliding over artificial turf.
These friction-induced abrasions have the potential to rip into the epidermis.
Your skin could feel rough like it has been scratched across sandpaper.
Depending on how you land, turf burn might affect a wide or small region of your skin.
These wounds may become infected and cause excruciating pain.
It’s critical that you understand both the causes and remedies for turf burn.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
✅ You always run the risk of developing turf burns if you keep playing sports on artificial turf.
✅ If you can, wear protective gear when playing hockey, soccer, football, or any other sport to avoid this from happening.
✅ Clothing that covers your elbows, knees, legs, and hands is an option.
✅ See if you can wear a fitting long-sleeve T-shirt under your team jersey if you play a team sport and your uniform doesn’t have long sleeves or pant legs.
✅ You can also cover your elbows and knees with padding, wear gloves on your hands, and bring your socks up to your knees.
✅ By taking these precautions, the danger of friction burns from sliding on artificial turf can be decreased.
What signs of turf burn are there?
After falling on your knee, leg, or arm, it’s common for you to get a bruise. These falls could even result in a layer of skin being scraped off, bleeding, and scratching. However, not all scrapes from falls are turf burns.
The little scraping or scratching you could suffer from other injuries is different from turf burn. The main distinction is that artificial grass burn happens when you fall on it. This kind of skin abrasion is brought on by friction. An outer layer of skin is peeled off by the heat created by this friction.
Turf burn not only hurts a lot, but it also leaves a noticeable raspberry-colored sore all over the affected area. Additionally, the region might look raw, and you might be slight bleeding.
Even little scrapes and scratches from various kinds of wounds might hurt. But this discomfort could be mild and go away in a few hours or days. Turf burn can cause severe pain that lasts for one to two weeks before the abrasion heals.
What is the remedy for turf burns?
You don’t always need to see a doctor if you have a turf burn after a fall. To reduce the chance of infection, you must however treat the abrasion.
Here are some at-home remedies for turf burn:
- Press gently on the wound to aid in stopping any bleeding.
- After the bleeding has stopped, clean the wound with warm water and pat the skin dry. Make sure to clean the sore of any dirt, grass, or debris. Turf burns can be painful to clean, but this procedure is essential to prevent infections. Don’t rush, and don’t put too much pressure on yourself.
- Dress the wound with an antibiotic ointment. Apply a thin coating of aloe vera over the abrasion if you don’t have an antiseptic. This acts as a natural disinfectant. Aloe Vera can provide a cooling effect while reducing inflammation.
You might wish to use sterile gauze and a hydrogel dressing to treat the abrasion. This will guard against microorganisms and help shield the area from infection.
- Up till the abrasion heals, keep using antiseptic ointment and fresh bandages every day.
Over the coming days or weeks, keep an eye out for any infections in your abrasion. If the wound doesn’t heal or if your level of agony increases, consult a doctor.
What are the chances of turf burn?
Turf burn may entirely recover with the right at-home care in a few weeks. If at all possible, refrain from participating in sports until the sore has healed to prevent reinjuring the area and delaying your recuperation.
By securing and maintaining cleanliness in the environment, you can prevent illnesses. Check the area frequently as the sore heals for any early indications of an infection. Extreme redness, discomfort, or pus are a few examples of these. Don’t disregard infection warning symptoms. If one appears, your doctor may prescribe an oral antibiotic or an antibacterial ointment.
A staph infection may result from a turf burn. The staphylococcus bacteria are to blame for these infections. Although it lives on the skin, this kind of bacterium can go inside the body through cuts and scrapes.
If a staph infection gets into your bloodstream, it could be fatal. If you think you could have a staph infection, be sure to recognize the symptoms and visit a doctor right once.
Included in the symptoms are increased redness and discomfort after the injury had begun to heal, nausea, vomiting, fever, and joint and muscular pain.