Last night was a tough night at my rink for adult skaters, particularly the men.

One man, a beginner, went down and cracked the back of his head hard on the ice. He had a large lump and a bloody gash.

Another man, a veteran, went down and split his brow. Lots of blood. I'm sure it required stitches.

The paramedics were busy last night.

There was much discussion afterward as how to deal with the blood on the ice. Most remedies seemed logical, but varied.

What is done at your rink when there's blood spilled on the ice?

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

I've never thought about it, but I would think there would be some safety issues.

Where I skate, I think they often times just resurface over it, since you can see blood marks for up to a week. When I cut my chin, they let the blood freeze, then scraped it up, or at least what they could. There were still stains there the next few days though. A nice reminder for me and my stitches everytime I went by the area. Yuck!!

At events at major arenas, to protect themselfs, they chip out the ice around the blood put it in a biohazard bag for proper handling.

Someone at an arena told me it was mandatory but I can't vouch for that. It just seems like a good idea considering the number of lawsuits out there.

I once saw a guy (hockey player) go down at the rink I skate at. Not only did he split his brown and gush blood all over, but it happened at the far end of the rink, and he got up and skated all the way to the other end to get off the ice. There was a line of blood the whole way down. I felt sorry for the poor guy who had to clean up after it. He just took out a flat shovel type thing and started scraping away, and threw it in a garbage can he was sliding along with him.

It was a gory mess, and one I've not forgotten. LOL I guess that's always in the back of my mind, which prevents me from trying any crazy moves.

Suz

That's what they teach in the ISI courses.

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At one rink I've skated at, a few times I saw stain blood spots on the ice. I figured (not pun intended ) that a little kid had had an accident or a hockey dude had been injured. It was disgusting, though.

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Andrea

I thought that once blood hit the ice it is no longer dangerous in terms on blood-born viruses because wouldn't the cold kill them? However if you are treating injuries you should always wear gloves just in case. But in relation to your question Gary - at our rink they do nothing.

There is probably a blood expert on this forum who can provide the correct information.

BTW - being really gross. Years ago in a public session someone hit their head and as they were getting off the ice they threw up on it. Then they just ran the zamboni over the spot. Makes me want to throw up just thinking about it.

As for those whacks on the head - the freakiest thing is skating again afterwards, not so much the injury itself. When it happened to me a couple of years ago it took me a while to gain my confidence.

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Geez, I'm glad I read this well AFTER I ate!

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jazzpants

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Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

I cut my chin once when I slipped out of a scratch spin and banged it on the ice. I was very concerned about who had to clean up the blood afterwards. I wish I could have done it myself but, at that time, I was feeling pretty sick....

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

Gary, did I just miss you last night, or weren't you at the Rec Plex? There was a snowy pile 'o' blood over by the zamboni end, with a couple of cones nearby. Ice is slippery, thank God I haven't had a bloody mess of it, but I have fallen and seen stars on ice, and I don't mean Scott Hamiltion.

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Wang chung!

The only time I skate at the RecPlex is Saturday morning. These incidents were at Kirkwood on Monday night. I skate Creve Coeur on Wednesday nights.

I think I've seen those same stars before. OUCH!!!

Someone at the rink suggested pouring some bleach on the blood. That would kill any infections, but I'm not sure what that would do to the ice.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

They leave it there.
Sometimes they make half-hearted attempt to hide with snow.
Never seen it hosed down before.

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MEL
Absolute Skating

Being a synchro skater, you do see accidents at competitions and practices where skaters get cut; it actually just happened at a competition I was at last weekend. I heard someone say they put bleach on the spots first, then scraped it up.

Once at a competition in Amsterdam, a poor man slipped at the end of his warm-up and knocked himself silly. He also cut himself, and there was blood on the ice, so, when he had been carried off and taken to hospital, the Zamboni came on again and cleaned just that little bit - it had cleaned the ice before the warm-up, which is part of what the problem had been.

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Mrs Redboots
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