Piercing & Sports – Safety first!!!

• Posted by Pete Bogdanovich
• January 18, 2012 3:09:23 PM EST
• 1 comment
• 904 views

Doing sports were you push your body to the limits and beyond, embracing the natural beauty of your body as a nudist or by modifying your body with piercings. Piercing and sports are interesting lifestyles.

They say the greatest instrument you will ever posses is your own body. It made us what we are today; it separated us from the animals, it enabled us to do simple labor so that we as humankind can conquer the world for ourselves. A tool so simple, yet so complex, it deserves more care and respect then we give it. In these fast and unforgiving times, we tend to forget to express our love to it.

There are many ways to do that. Doing sports were you push your body to the limits and beyond, embracing the natural beauty of your body as a nudist or by modifying your body with piercings. Piercing and sports are interesting lifestyles. They often collide as lifestyles as they are different in many ways, yet people sometimes fail to see their similarities. They both have the same purpose and goal, feeling better with ourselves and our bodies. While some people who do sports will see piercing as desecration of the body, other will tell you that it is just another form of expressing your character through your body. I will dedicate this article to those who have embraced both the piercing and sports lifestyle.

As most of you are aware a piercing is essentially a wound, as all wounds they are vulnerable to damage and infection if not treated properly. Caring for a piercing requires responsibility, so the equation is rather simple. Piercings with sports equals more responsibilities.

Now of course there are various forms and places you can get your piercings, so I’m not going to talk about every piercing and how to protect it from harm. What I will tell you is general advice that can be applied to most common piercings while performing sport activities.

Having done a piercing it is advisable not to engage in any form of sporting activity for at least two weeks. Your best option here would be to consider waiting when the season of your sport is over and you are on a break. Giving your piercing breathing space to heal for at least 2 months is ideal.

There is also semi-permanent piercings that can be removed when it is needed. It very much depends how well your body reacts to the piercing, “every piercing story is different” I say. It goes without saying that when choosing the metal of the piercing, you should consider the ones who are less likely to cause infection, such as titanium, sterilized steel or pure solid gold.

Then we come to a factor that is unavoidable in sports activities, the issue of sweating. We know that sweating is the main form of thermoregulation of our body. Sweat is food for some bacteria that reside on our skin. Contrary to popular belief, the sweat itself is not the cause of body odor.

It’s the bacteria that are feeding of the sweat that causes that. These same bacteria are a factor of risk for a recently done piercing. Warm, wet and dark environments as crowded gyms can be are an ideal breeding ground for various bacteria. You also have to consider avoiding swimming in pools and river waters in the first few weeks. Swimming pools are safer then natural water cause of the chloride.

If you have your own swimming pool it should not be a problem, but if you don’t and consider going to a public swimming pool (again full of people) it is best you postpone it until you’re piercing has healed a good month.

Even after you have done everything right the past few months with your piercing, the dangers are still clear and present. For those who do sport regularly they develop a routine, still it sport activities are random in their nature. One day you are in top form, the next day you will have to consider quitting your sport because you injured yourself heavily. Risk factors are everywhere, adding a piercing in it is just one in many.

Team sports where contact is inevitable, by having a piercing you are not only endangering yourself by having your piercing accidently ripped from you but also the people around you. The easiest method to avoid that is to use medical tape or gauze to keep your piercing covered safely. Keep in mind that after removing it to clean it promptly with the usual anti-bacterial soup and saline solution.

But in the end the best strategy is not to consider having a piercing at all if you are into competitive forms of sport. Do not get a piercing if you are practicing a full contact sport or martial arts. The aftermath of injuries like that can get really ugly from finding your piercing on the ground with a piece of your ear or other tissue.

All leaving you very much scarred for life if you can’t afford a plastic surgery. There are even some cases were a piercing punctured the body casing inner bleeding. Its scenarios like these that most couches and trainers will order you to remove you’re piercing.

Not because they hate your style or find it offensive, simply cause there first priority in every sport activity is for you and your peers to be safe. Many sporting competitions have strict rules on banning body modifications, for the very same reason, safety.

I am certain that should not have any problems with the care of your piecing, since it is very similar as taking care of your body while performing sports activities. It requires the same discipline, but still you should not stubbornly decline help from other people that are involved with you in the same sport.

Don’t stumble in the dark, inform yourself on the pros and cons of having piercings in your life while doing sports from the piercing studio. Listen to the trainers and couches on that issue, since they have your best interest in mind and that is for you to enjoy the sport you love. And if that means getting rid of the piercing then so be it. In the end it is you who rules over that piercing, not the other way around.