Dirty Deeds, Done By Dirty Gear

We’ve all heard the stories of how some athletes have been hospitalized due to an infection from dirty gear. Ed Belfour, Joe Thornton, Mikael Renberg, Barry Trotz just to name a few. But an infection from dirty hockey gear is one of those things that happens to someone else, so we don’t worry about. Well it happened to me.

It happens when a break in the skin lets in nasty bacteria, The bacteria finds it’s way into your joints and the bursa sacand starts to reak havoc. The consequences can range from irritating, painful, debilitating, all the way to amputation or worse.

Toronto’s Mikael Renberg sliced open his hand while tying skates during a Toronto road trip. Bacteria, possibly from Renberg’s gloves, entered the wound and he eventually had to be rushed to a Vancouver hospital. Reports said doctors considered amputating Renberg’s hand because the infection had become so severe.

Barry Trotz once had to undergo emergency surgery for an ankle infection.

San Jose’s Gary Suter’s tricep muscle was nearly eaten away by infection.

CuppaJoe Grinders’ Glen Trainor was sidelined for 2 weeks. Don’t know him? Thats me; and this was/is my elbow.

What happened? Small cut + dirty gear = large aching elbow.

I had a small cut on my elbow which wasn’t of any concern. Typical scrape and scratches you get when horsing around with the kids. I typically wear a long sleeve shirt under my gear, but due to a couple of back-to-back games, I wore a t-shirt instead for the second game. That left the small scrape exposed to the dirty, wet elbow pad.

Nothing happened immediately. Two days later however, late at night, sitting at the computer I started to feel a small ache in my elbow. By midnight it started to really hurt. By 2 am I couldn’t sleep for the pain. 9am; I was in the doctor’s office with an elbow larger than my knee.

A Septic Bursa was the official call. Instead of bursitis caused by repetitive over use, it is bursitis caused by bacteria. The bacteria involved in septic bursitis is usually staphylococcus.

Staphylococcus (Staph) is group of bacteria that can (and do) cause a multitude of diseases. Staph can cause illness directly by infection (such as in the skin) or indirectly through their byproducts such as toxins responsible for food poisoning and toxic shock syndrome.

I went to the doctor early enough so that I was treated with antibiotics and painkillers. She told me that I came just in time else I would have hospitalized and treated intravenously. If the antibiotic therapy didn’t work then repeated aspiration of the inflamed fluid may be required and possibly surgical removal of the infected bursa sac (bursectomy).

She drew a pen mark around my elbow, told me to go home, take the drugs and watch the swelling. If the swelling went outside the pen-mark return immediately for additional treatment.

Fortunately the swelling subsided, the pain eased and 2 weeks later I was back on the ice. Now, I make sure I dry my gear properly and regularly use a disinfectant (endbac II) that kills staph, influenza viruses, strep, athlete’s foot fungus, and prevents mold and mildew growth and stinks prettier than hockey stank.