Playing with a Scab on the Knee

[NJDev803]

Hey guys, I scraped my knee up pretty good a few days ago and now there's a pretty big scab between my knee cap and the top of my shin. It hurts to press on it, and it's obvious that the scab isn't going anywhere soon. Unfortunately, I have a big game tonight.

I'm fearing that the pain will be a factor when I have my knee pads on, which will be in constant contact with the scab, and also when I'm dropping down to my knees.

Does anyone know of anything that I can apply to the scab to dull or numb the pain?

[Spidey]

I had a HUGE scab on my shin not to long ago.
It was very painful to go to Bfly and stretch with the pads on so I didn't But once the warm-ups were over the game got underway and the adrenalin was flowin I didn;t notice it all...

[NJDev803]

I'm hoping the adrenaline will mask the pain, but I have played with a bruised knee before and I know it was very painful every time I dropped to the ice.

The pain I'm worried about at this point isn't so much from the scab cracking or ripping, but from the tenderness of the knee beneath the scab on the skin.

[hamstercaster]

Originally Posted by NJDev803

Hey guys, I scraped my knee up pretty good a few days ago and now there's a pretty big scab between my knee cap and the top of my shin. It hurts to press on it, and it's obvious that the scab isn't going anywhere soon. Unfortunately, I have a big game tonight.

I'm fearing that the pain will be a factor when I have my knee pads on, which will be in constant contact with the scab, and also when I'm dropping down to my knees.

Does anyone know of anything that I can apply to the scab to dull or numb the pain?

You may want to try and put a thick bandage over it to help with the rubbing and dropping to your knees and such. It should help make the pain at least bearable and prevent your scab from detaching itself from your leg and then bleeding all over your kneepads.

[HMHINC]

Just rub some dirt on it, you'll be fine.

[junior1cats]

Plop some antibiotic creme or vaseline on it before bandage. It will keep it moist so it won't be so annoying.
Don't be shy with it either.

[jbgd825]

I used to play baseball and football with skinned knees all the time. I have no idea how there's still skin on them, as they are basically two big scars in the middle of my legs.

the scab will probably annoy you dropping onto it until it breaks apart or falls off. At which point it will probably bleed or start to puss.

Pour some water on it after you game and clean it out. Other than that you should be fine, unless your knee is bruised. Unless your scab is HUGE the pain should be minimal while you are playing.

[SNOW57]

WOOOO!!!! 20 weeks after surgery im finally allowed to play goal, ive been skating for a while, even busted out some rollerblades just to move around.
but im 6 weeks ahead of schedual and im strappin the pads on next sunday!!

[icepop]

When you're not playing, keep the scrape covered and treated with Neosporin. It'll accelerate healing and keep it from getting infected.

During play, keep it covered with gauze. Don't worry too much about treating it, it's going to get sweaty anyway. You may even want to do a light Ace wrap around the bandage, but nothing too heavy.

It's going to hurt, and there is almost no way around that. You just want to keep the bandage from shifting and keep the wound from opening up while you're playing.

When you're done playing, make sure you clean it. Irrigate the wound (shower works great for that). Let it air dry and then treat it with some more Neosporin. Hopefully, in a week or so, it'll be healed enough that it won't be so painful when you play.

[goalerjones]

stop playing with it, it will never heal...

Put neosporin on it, top that with a padded/bulky dressing like a telfa and tape it in place with some coaches tape...that will be $40.

[grouch181]

you probably already played your game... you have to be careful with lots of neosporin or vaseline it is very easy to make a wound TOO soft, and you risk big infections. Like someone said really clean it well after you play. Soap and water is usually all a wound needs. Docs these days are not recommending topical anti-biotics as much as they used to, especially for large wounds as they can irritate skin. That's why all neosporin adds show small cuts. Too much of that stuff and it starts to get into your blood stream. If it starts to get really red, or you start seeing streaks get into a doc asap. Someone mentioned a bandage, if you can swing it those are good but they do fall off. What has helped me is clean first layer, or under armor and then wrap clear sock tape over the top of the first layer stuff. The tape helps the knee pads slide a little, creating a second barrier and absorbing a lot of the friction, not your wound. Clean it with soap and very warm water right after you play... any blisters, pimple looking things or lots of pus is very bad. MRSA is starting to show up in locker rooms.

[goalies-r-us]

Next time, don't let a scab form -- keep it covered with some sort of ointment at the very least.

The best type of bandage for most types of clean / uninfected wounds is a hydrocolloid bandage. You'll often find them sold as "blister" bandages, and ever since Dom was a little tyke we've called them "magic bandaids" in our house.

While they are much pricier than a typical bandage, they last anywhere from 1-7 days before needing to be replaced. They completely seal the wound's perimeter, keeping out air, water, and dirt. The hydrocolloidal properties of the bandage make it work WITH the body's "scab builders", providing a moist, clean environment for the growth of new replacement skin. Wounds covered with a hydrocolloid bandage heal faster than normal, and scarring is minimal or non-existent.

In this case, not only would the scab not have gotten hard/crusty, but the hydrocolloid bandage would have provided a "cushion" for the injured area.

[NJDev803]

So I just ended up putting neosporin on a gauze pad and wrapping it with a bandage. It hurt like hell to be on my knees during stretches, but once the game started I didn't even notice the pain anymore (yay adrenaline!).

After the game (we won 4-3!), I took off my knee pad and saw that the gauze and bandage had completely slipped off of the wound, and the scab had detached and was stuck to the gauze. I made sure to disinfect it when I got home.

Of course I had another game tonight (we won 6-1!), so I repeated last night's routine but used more tape to hold the bandage in place. It hurt more tonight while stretching and warming up, which I expected, but once again the pain just disappeared during the game.

The bandage at least stayed put this time, but I still made sure to disinfect it afterwards. Luckily I don't have another game for a week so hopefully the new scab forming now will be healed by then.

[doogie24]

This happens to me all the time. My left knee is always scabbed from playing baseball, and than once I hit the ice it gets pretty nasty. I have had pieces of scab stuck to my sweatpants after games, it gets a bunch of EEWWW's when I show people after the game.