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Sport is health! Athletes, however, should be careful of the fungus lurking in shoes, changing rooms, showers and swimming pools.
Mycosis and sport
Mycosis of the feet is a common disease among people practicing sports. The explanation for this fact is simple – the microorganisms causing this disease willingly multiply in warm, humid places between the toes, which are trapped in sports shoes for many hours. Ringworm itches and blemishes the feet. It can also spread to other parts of the body and infect other people.
Initially, it appears most frequently between the fourth and fifth fingers, spreading over time to the rest of the fingers, toenails, and even to other parts of the body. The symptoms are itchy, irritating spots between the toes. The skin can also crack, peel, or bleed. By scratching, we spread the spores and the disease can spread over more and more areas of the body.
Where can you get infected with mycosis
The easiest way to get infected with mycosis is walking barefoot in the vicinity of swimming pools, in showers or by sharing a towel with an infected person. Practicing barefoot eastern martial arts and yoga in fitness clubs also exposes us to contact with pathogenic fungi. Our own shoes can also be dangerous. You have to remember that when practicing sports we sweat more. We have more sweat glands on our feet than anywhere else on the body – about 1000 for every square centimeter, which is a whopping 125 glands on each foot. If we use the same shoes every day for a long time, they will never dry properly. Meanwhile, pathogenic fungi can multiply in damp shoes.
Mycosis prophylaxis
In order not to get infected with mycosis, it is worth following a few simple rules:
1) In public places, let’s wear rubber flip-flops that are easy to wash and wipe dry.
2) After each training session, carefully wash and dry your feet, paying particular attention to the spaces between the toes. If we have a tendency to sweat intensively, you can sprinkle them with talcum powder or use a sweat-inhibiting spray.
3) Wash the socks and the towel used in the sports club after each use.
4) If possible, do not wear the same shoes every day and always try to dry them after use. If kept in a punching bag all the time, they will never dry out completely.
5) When exercising barefoot, it is worth protecting your feet with an antifungal agent.
How to cure mycosis
Remember that scrubbing the lesions with, for example, water and soap, detergents or alcohol does not remove fungi, and sometimes it can even aggravate the disease process. Prolonged soaking of infected feet in water or suds also contributes to the disease. It is best to consult a dermatologist who will recommend appropriate treatment for changes in the skin. There are a number of agents on the market, many of which are described as antifungal drugs. This does not necessarily mean that they destroy fungi – most of them just inhibit their growth. Eventually the fungi die naturally and are eliminated along with the dead skin. These drugs are referred to as “fungistatic” agents. It is important to complete the prescribed treatment, usually for several weeks, otherwise the disease may recur. It should be remembered that symptom relief alone is not the same as healing.
There are also agents that have a fungicidal effect, which means that they destroy the fungus, not just isolate it. Some of them only require one-time use. Remember to apply the preparation on both feet and follow the rules of proper hygiene in order to reduce the risk of recurrence of infection.
After completing the treatment, do not forget to kill the fungus spores in your shoes. They can wait for us for a long time – up to 4 weeks. After thoroughly washing and drying shoes, we should disinfect them with special preparations available in pharmacies. Let’s not forget about roller skates, ice skates and ski boots. In the case of socks, a good wash is enough.
Text: Halina Pilonis
Medical consultation: Aleksandra Rymsza, MD, PhD, specialist in dermatology, Medicover
Źródła:
http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/athletes-foot-myths
http://dermatologia.mp.pl/choroby/chorobyskory/show.html?id=73239
A small anatomical atlas, PWN Publishing House 2011