Of all sports activities, wrestling has the greatest potential to cause skin infections and other health risks mainly because wrestling mats become soiled and contaminated as they are used.

According to the Georgia High School Association, the most common infection that results from wrestling is tinea corporis, more commonly known as ringworm, even though it has little to do with worms. Tinea corporis is a fungal infection. It’s known as ringworm because the infection appears red and scaly and develops a ring formation with a clear center.

This is a highly contagious disease and, especially for wrestlers, can develop in many different areas of the body, even under fingernails, causing significant discomfort. While it is curable, usually taking one to three weeks for treatments to be effective, the best way to deal with a ringworm infection is to prevent it. And, preventing it means taking steps to keep wrestling mats clean and healthy before, during, and after use.

Recently, an educational facility was looking for a more effective way to clean wrestling mats. Typically this educational facility used traditional ways of cleaning the mats with chemicals, repeating the cleaning process usually two times, if not more, with each cleaning. The cleaning chemical had to set (dwell) on the mats for five minutes before it could be wiped off, which usually involved mopping the mat to remove the cleaning solution.

Administrators were interested in a faster, more environmentally friendly way to clean its wrestling mats that was as effective or more effective than the procedure they had been using. The school conducted a test using hydrogen peroxide sanitizer to clean certain mats and a CleanCore machine that uses cold water and ozone to make a cleaning solution, referred to as aqueous ozone, on another set of mats.

Aqueous ozone cleaning is probably new to many schools and even many cleaning professionals, but this combination reflects a growing trend in the professional cleaning industry. Building managers are now looking into options that go beyond green cleaning to systems that use no cleaning chemicals at all. With a CleanCore aqueous ozone system, the aqueous ozone is sprayed onto the surface to be cleaned, such as a wrestling mat, and then vacuumed up. The benefits can be considerable. However, at the top of the list is that it is environmentally preferable because no chemicals are used whatsoever.

The two cleaning methods were tested using accepted “best practices” for cleaning the mats for a two-week period. An ATP monitoring device was brought in to evaluate how clean the mats were after cleaning. We should note that ATP does not necessarily indicate that specific germs and bacteria are present on a surface, such as a wrestling mat, but the higher the ATP count, the higher the likelihood of contamination being present.

The study uncovered the following:

•  Using the aqueous ozone cleaning method took less time and fewer applications than the peroxide method.

•  The ATP readings were nearly 300 on some mats before cleaning, indicating a high potential for germs and bacteria.
    •  After cleaning with hydrogen peroxide, this was brought down to an average reading of 84.
    •  After cleaning with the CleanCore system, the reading averaged 24.
    •  Further cleaning with the CleanCore aqueous ozone system brought the ATP reading down to as low as 1.

This study indicates that the CleanCore aqueous ozone system is more effective and faster than using hydrogen peroxide. While hydrogen peroxide is considered an excellent cleaner, even used in medical facilities because of its effectiveness, it might be wise for administrators in medical facilities as well as in schools and other types of facilities to consider systems that are not only effective, but are also the ultimate in green cleaning.