I've got a navel ring. I love it and haven't ever regretted it for a second. I've had it for over six years. It has never once interfered with my training after it was done healing (about six weeks) I've had, well, lets just say more than five body piercings. The navel ring is the only one I still have at the moment, but I'm considering getting another piercing.
Before piercing:
Find a really good piercer (if you're anywhere near Los Angeles or Orange County, email me about this). Talk to them. Explain what you want. Choose your jewelry carefully and make sure you pick something you like, but listen to the piercer's recommendations. Never, ever pierce with anything other than stainless steel or titanium. Anything else can really irritate skin and cause allergic reactions. (the pierce with gold only thing is a myth. most gold is alloyed (mixed) with nickel, which will usually cause a new piercing to have an allergic reaction to the jewelry and start to reject). Make sure the jewelry and the tools come out of a sealed autoclave bag, and the needle is new. A good piercer will show you this without being asked. If they don't, get up and leave. When the piercer tells you when to breathe, listen to them. It hurts less. And it will hurt, but its really quick. by the time you think "$@!#, that hurt!" its over and is just a little tender. Bring some juice with you to drink after because you might get dizzy. I've needed juice or something to eat or drink after all my piercings. The adrenaline somehow makes your bloodsugar drop.
While its healing:
Do everything your piercer tells you to do. Clean it at least twice a day, and other than that, paws off. don't touch it, pick at it or turn it. when you turn it, you rip away at the healing. Dial soap and salt soaks are a good thing! Easiest way to salt soak is get a shot glass, fill it with about 1/2 an inch of salt (magnesium salt that you can get in the grocery store's pharmacy section, not table salt, and not perfumed bath salt either), and the rest of the way with warm water. bend over, put the glass on the piercing, and stand up, holding the glass to your stomach. Then sit down and watch TV for fifteen minutes or so. and rinse well. Salt works wonders to prevent infection, and its a must do if you're working out and sweating.
Wear a bandage over it in karate only. the ring will want to lay to one side, so make sure you put it to opposite sides each day, so it will heal straight. outside of karate, wear low rise jeans and short or loose tops until its healed. you don't want to irritate it.
don't spar. and don't let anyone hit you in the stomach. It probably won't damage the piercing, but it will hurt like heck. wear a chest protector if you must have contact during this time. After about two weeks, it won't really hurt anymore, though.
If you discover that your gi pants elastic bothers you, get a drawstring gi and tie it below the piercing. This is the kind I wear, and its never been a problem.
After its done healing:
do everything the same way you normally would. I don't take any dprecautions, and have never needed to. Just make sure that in the studio you're wearing a ring and not a barbell or bananabell (curved barbell). Barbells catch on things. Rings don't, unless something manages to get hooked inside, which, under your gi, is highly unlikely.
Best of luck! Email me and let me know how it goes!
-Nightingale
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