Athlete's foot & swimming

I have a slight infection of athlete's foot, such that the skin has split underneath my left little toe.

Is it still considered acceptable to go swimming if I wear sandals in the showers? I can't possibly wear sandals at every single moment until entering the water, I assume a lifeguard would complain about leaving sandals lying around at the edge of the pool.

Some internet pages tell you not to swim at all until it gets better, but surely serious athletes don't stop swimming for weeks whenever they get athletes foot (not that I'm a serious athlete!). Plus even if you did stop swimming for a fortnight, even when the visible damage is gone the fungi likely live on for quite some time in smaller numbers.

Comments

  • You could use verrucas socks, there like swimming caps for your feet, but make sure you wash them out properly after each use.

    to be honest it's probably best to try and get the athletes foot under control before you start swimming in pools.

  • Just do it. Probably where you got it the first place.

  • Everytime I go to a swimming pool I come back with Athletes foot.  I think you have to accept it as part and parcel of going swimming in pools!  Then when you get home and shower properly treat your feet accordingly every time!  

  • Prince Siegfried wrote (see)

    Everytime I go to a swimming pool I come back with Athletes foot.  I think you have to accept it as part and parcel of going swimming in pools!  Then when you get home and shower properly treat your feet accordingly every time!  

    Athletes foot don't really work like that, a lot of it comes down to good foot hygiene, but some people are more prone to it then other.

  • Prince Siegfried wrote (see)

    Everytime I go to a swimming pool I come back with Athletes foot.  I think you have to accept it as part and parcel of going swimming in pools!  Then when you get home and shower properly treat your feet accordingly every time!  

     

    Interesting.  I've never had it since I started swimming regularly, but I used to get it a lot when I ran.  I guess the difference for me is that I now tend to wear sandals more so my feet don't sweat.  Running shoes are the perfect breading ground for fungal infections.

    I would avoid public pools for the first week that you are treating it as that is when it is most likely to be infectious.  After that I would go to the pool, but try to keep my feet out of contact with the floor as much as possible.  Some pools do allow flip flops right up to the water's edge but if not then just be careful how much you walk around with bare feet.

    Of course, you could always swim open water for the next week or so.  The sea is still a very comfortable 16 degrees and rivers are only down to 14 degrees in some areas.  Both are still possible with or without a wetsuit and yyou don't need to worry about infecting anyone else.

  • SuperCaz wrote (see)
    Prince Siegfried wrote (see)

    Everytime I go to a swimming pool I come back with Athletes foot.  I think you have to accept it as part and parcel of going swimming in pools!  Then when you get home and shower properly treat your feet accordingly every time!  

     

    Interesting.  I've never had it since I started swimming regularly, but I used to get it a lot when I ran.  I guess the difference for me is that I now tend to wear sandals more so my feet don't sweat.  Running shoes are the perfect breading ground for fungal infections.

    I would avoid public pools for the first week that you are treating it as that is when it is most likely to be infectious.  After that I would go to the pool, but try to keep my feet out of contact with the floor as much as possible.  Some pools do allow flip flops right up to the water's edge but if not then just be careful how much you walk around with bare feet.

    Of course, you could always swim open water for the next week or so.  The sea is still a very comfortable 16 degrees and rivers are only down to 14 degrees in some areas.  Both are still possible with or without a wetsuit and yyou don't need to worry about infecting anyone else.

    And the sea will do the infection a lot more good then a swimming pool, even though I work out of a sports clinic once a week as part of my job, I see more workmen with athletes foot then I do athletes due to steel toe cap boots, but it was something I saw little of when I was in the army even though we are in boots all day, I put this down to good foot hygiene being strictly ingrained into you from basic.

  • I'd love to go swimming in the sea each evening but it's a 60 mile journey to the sea and anyway I don 't have a car, so not very practical.

    I think I will go swimming from Monday and wear sandals in the shower. It is already clearing up a bit, and as Jus says infection is more to do with your own foot hygiene than how often you come into contact with floors infected people have walked on.

  • Its about a 3 hour drive for me Jim, so I feel your pain.

  • One the the nice things about living on a island, growing up with the sea only ten minutes away or less.

  • I used to live within walking distance of the sea.  I really miss it

  • I suffered with this quite badly for a couple of years. I tired all sorts of treatments, over the counter and prescribed and in the end the solution was buying new shoes for work. I always used to buy cheap shoes to wear to work, but when I got some better full leather ones I noticed that my feet would sweat a lot less. Also cotton socks make a difference. 

    Whether or not the shoes themselves made the difference I don't know. the reasoning behind buying new ones was that every time it started to clear up it would come back as soon as the treatment stopped so I assumed the spores were in the shoes. It may have been this, it may have been that my feet sweated less in the new shoes, it may have been a combination of the two - all I know is that since throwing my old shoes away my feet have been fine. 

     

    I am in the pool and the surrounding spa area an awful lot (even when I don't swim I use the spa after a gym session) and I haven't picked anything up. 

  • Wear sandals at the pool for a starter - as long as you don't leave them in a walkway the lifeguards should be OK. Some get shirty if you leave them near ladders or around the side. It is not the pool area that you are concerned about - it is the changing rooms and showers. If you use atheletes foot talc that will treat your feet and help keep them dry. Shoes and socks matter too. Breathable is always better. If not, carry spare socks and change at lunchtime, then again after work. As said - hygiene and dryness is key to preventing it. 

  • I've suffered with it between my little toes on both feet for years.  As soon as I got my feet wet (say, walking across grass) it would flare up immediately and last for ages.  I used the spray stuff on it, but stopped a day or two after it cleared up.

    Then I decided to do what it says on the tin and keep applying it for a while after it clears up.  Actually, I carried on for nearly two weeks.

    Now it's gone and it hasn't come back image

  • Just found this and it works a treat... www.clevercultures.com And there's a 10% off code in 220Tri this month- 220Tri30 and they offer a money back guarantee too. Sorted mine out

  • Snap!Snap! ✭✭✭

    I suffered really badly with this for 20 years. The I started swimming in the sea. I also started only cold showering to acclimatise, and it completely cleared up. Not a sniff since.

  • I similarly used to get athletes foot, and once - a really bad verruca that I put down to the state of the showers and floor at my local pools changing rooms. Every time I go for a swim session now I dose my feet afterwards with a spray called "Daktarin Activ" once they are dry. Not had a repeat occurrence and it only costs about £4 per can.

    Hope that helps.

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