Contemplating Controversy

While there are quite a few controversies in the field of athletic training, one that caught my eye was the controversy over how a topical injury heals quickest. This controversy was brought to my attention in one of my athletic training classes at Michigan State University. When my professor asked the class whether we thought that a scrape healed quicker in a more dry condition or a more wet, moist condition I said the more dry condition. Was I correct?

As it turns out I was not correct; a scrape does not heal more rapidly in a dry condition. This was the more common idea among athletic trainers for some time and some still believe it to be true. The thought behind this is that the wound is being kept dry so that it does not attract bacteria and get infected. In doing this a scar begins to appear, making it seem as the scrape is repairing quickest. The scab will continue to change during this repair process until the scrape is no more and new healthy skin is in its place.

The other side to this controversy is that a scrape heals  quicker in a more wet condition. More and more athletic trainers are beginning to see this as the best way to repair a topical injury such as a scrape. In keeping the scrape more wet and moist the scab appears to not be forming all that well and it looks rather disgusting, but it supposedly is suppose to heal twice as fast as a scrape in a dry condition. Experiments have been done to compare the two and it seems as though this claim is very true.

This is not a huge controversy in the field of athletic training, but a controversy I found rather interesting. It seemed like such a simple disagreement, but turned out to have some depth to it. I hope that most of you found this controversy to be interesting and further your interest in the field of athletic training.

 

Work Cited

Zahir, M. "The Nature of Wound Healing, with Special Reference to Scab Formation." University of Oxford, Exeter (United Kingdom), 1965. England: ProQuest. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.