Sadly, mat burn is a common feature in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Not only this, but mat burn is also associated with other grappling sports such as wrestling and judo. In short, mat burn is caused when your skin violently rubs on a surface.
With BJJ, the most common areas of mat burn are the feet, toes, knees and elbows. However, in some cases, you can get mat burn on your face if unlucky enough. Basically, the areas of your body that stick out and that are most in contact with the floor will be more prone to mat burn.
Although mat burn isn’t the worst pain in the world, it can cause skin infections such as MRSA down the line if it doesn’t heal properly. It can also become infected and turn into a painful blister as well. This is rare, and in most cases will just sting whilst taking a shower. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t avoid mat burn and there are ways to prevent it if you are sick of getting mat burn.
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Examples of mat burn
One example of mat burn could be doing a penetration step. This is used in wrestling where you slide forwards on your lead foot and follow through with your knee. Rubbing against the floor, this can rip your skin off on your knee and toes.
Typically wrestlers counter this by wearing shoes or socks whilst grappling. However, wearing such equipment is rare in BJJ. Thankfully, most BJJ grapplers wear trousers that will protect against the knees. Alternatively, you can wear knee pads to avoid your knees getting mat burn if you’re doing nogi.
Another example could be whilst performing a snake. In BJJ people snake to create distance between themselves and the opponent. In doing this, you may rub the elbow off the mat. This can also tear the skin from the elbow. Again, this can be lessened whilst wearing a gi or wearing elbow pads in nogi.
Ways to prevent mat burn
As previously mentioned, clothing can protect against mat burn. Often, your gi will protect against mat burn against the shoulders and knees. Again, you can also self-protect with knee and shoulder pads if needed. Another idea could be to wear socks if your mat burn becomes problematic. Most gyms will allow this. Other specific clothing can also be used in nogi such as long-sleeved rashguards and spats to protect the elbows and knees.
Another common method is to tape your toes. The toes are probably the most prone area of your body to get mat burn. As seen above – you can effectively cover most of your body to fight mat burn but if you’re not wearing socks then your toes will be particularly prone to getting it. Whilst socks may protect, they’re also not really used in BJJ as they can make you slip whilst doing take downs, so if you do wear them then use socks with grips on the bottom.
Because of this, one option is to tape around the bony parts of your toes. In doing this, the tape will soak up the bulk of the damage. Right now, Monkey Tape have a particularly good deal on their tapes that can be found here.
Ways to treat mat burn
As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. However, the likelihood is that you will get mat burn at some point. Not only this, but some of the measures listed above may be deemed too extreme by some. For instance, some may think wearing pads or socks is too much in avoiding mat burn.
With this said, if you do get mat burn then there’s a few ways to help treat it. Firstly, you want to wash the wound when you can as early as possible. This will sting in the shower but is better than having bacteria linger which could cause infections. After this, you can chose to rub aloe vera gel into the wound which is a natural remedy in curing wounds. Alternatively you could rub salt into the burn whilst showering. This method can be quite painful, but it is effective.
Other methods such as liquid bandages can also be considered. These act by putting a thin but durable layer of liquid over the burn. This will keep the burn clean and doesn’t hurt when removed. This differs to cloth bandages which can rip the scab off when removed removed. In brief, liquid bandages are probably better than conventional bandages because of this.
However, there is good news for veteran grapplers
One phenomenon when starting BJJ is getting mat burn fairly often. This is due to having naturally softer skin that isn’t as scarred. Because of this, it’s common to see new practitioners getting mat burn on a regular basis. However, the more you get mat burn, the less it will happen. This is because the skin will grow back as a scar and will be naturally thicker and more durable.
Therefore, there is good news for those who have had bouts of mat burn before. The more you get it, the less it will happen in the future as your skin will grow back stronger. You may remember as a newcomer getting mat burn on a regular basis. However, down the years it will become less of an occurrence.
Can I still train with mat burn?
Most regular grapplers will still train whilst having mat burn. In brief, it’s seen as a minor issue which usually stings for a few days and then naturally recovers. If it’s that painful or you’re worried of infection, the of course you can chose to avoid training for a few days. The alternative is to apply tape or bandages to the area which will cover your skin during training.
This may sound simple, but make sure you cover the entire area of the burn and that the tape or bandage is applied firmly whilst training. The last thing you want to do is spar and for the tape to fall off, exposing your skin and causing more damage. However, if approached with caution and a sensible approach then this won’t happen anyway.
Summary
Whilst mat burn is a pain that all grapplers go through, it’s not a massive deal either. In the big scheme of things, BJJ will probably cause most practitioners a lot more physical problems than mat burn. Whilst infections and MRSA can happen, they’re incredibly rare.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be cautious when training with mat burn. As said, protective clothing is probably the easiest way to avoid getting it. However, the good news is that after a few years of solid training – you probably won’t get it much anyway due to your skin hardening in the prone areas.
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