How can I get rid of this horrible knee pad rash?

June 11, 2008 8:47 AM

Horrible rash on my knees from roller derby knee pads, what can I do?

I play roller derby for the Charm City Rollergirls in Baltimore. If you're on the east coast, you'll know that it's been HOTTTTTTTTTTTT these past few days. On Monday night we had a 3 hour practice in our minimally-air-conditioned home rink. Needless to say, it was about 97,000 degrees in there. The heat, the sweat, and some extended falling drills led to my knees feeling a bit grosser than usual when it finally came time to take my pads off. There was a little redness on my knees and the skin around them (front, back, above and below) but nothing too awful.

However, when I woke up Tuesday morning, my knees and the surrounding area were covered in an extremely itchy, painful rash. I'd apparently been scratching in my sleep and there were even some bloody gashes from my fingernails. i know, EWWW. I put some neosporin+pain on, but the itching and burning continued through the day.

Last night I slathered them with Bio-Freeze (which actually made them feel better due to the numbing effect) but there is still a raised, itchy, painful rash on my skin.

I'm not too familiar with babies, but is this basically diaper rash on my knees?

I have another 3 hour practice tonight, and would like to not aggravate this any more than I have to. I've been wearing these pads for about 5 months, so i don't think it's an allergic reaction to the pads, i think it's more sweat/heat/friction. Does anyone know what kind of, like...lotion, ointment, slave, whatever I could use to lessen my agony and help this heal? Do you think neoprene knee gaskets might help?

also, my pads are Six Six One DJ Knee.



ps OUCH!

posted by capnsue to health & fitness (7 comments total)

If it turns out that this is, indeed, similar to a diaper rash- I use Weleda Calendula diaper cream on my son- clears rashes up in hours. I've also had success with regular hydrocortisone cream for other sorts of rashes.

BUT- if you are succombing to a bacterial infection on the surface of your skin that started with chafing and sweating under the pads- you probably need a different course of action.

Have you been washing the knee pads regularly? Keeping them clean should help.
posted by ohdeanna at 9:08 AM on June 11, 2008

In the future, I would suggest putting deodorant on your knees and then baby powder to keep you from sweating/rubbing there.
posted by radioamy at 9:18 AM on June 11, 2008

The pads need to be washed and completely dried.

During practice, any time you've got a break slide the pads down to let your skin dry a bit.

After practice get those pads off immediately.

(Bicyclists have similar problems. A hot moist environment for bacteria, y'know.)

((Those are great pads (SixSixOne), but maybe there's a design like my less burly Fox kneepads that will allow you to undo the top strap and let the knee cover flap when you're on break.))
posted by lothar at 9:39 AM on June 11, 2008

Seconding the "wash them and completely dry them." The rash could also be either bacterial or fungal. You'll have to try different creams, see which one is doing the trick.

Do you think neoprene knee gaskets might help?

Might make it worse, actually, if you don't wash and dry the gaskets, too. Instead of neoprene, you could use something like a sanitary sock, which is easier to clean on a regular basis.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:18 AM on June 11, 2008

You should definitely wash the pads every time, and I would try some anti-chafing gel.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:20 AM on June 11, 2008

This is a mild coincidence: I'm in the middle of a crazy, itchy reaction to something blooming nearby. OUCH, indeed. I've been using over-the-counter cortisone cream (active ingredient: hydrocortisone 1%.) It's just for reducing general itching and inflammation -- we used it for almost everything when I was a kid.
posted by lillygog at 10:38 AM on June 11, 2008

You should definitely make sure to clean your pads more frequently. See this article, linked in this recent post on the Blue.
posted by limeonaire at 7:59 PM on June 11, 2008