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  • Painkillers in soccer - pursuing the problem


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    I wrote this yesterday for CBC, entitled: Pro Soccer Pained by Pill-Popping Players. A great headline that I had nothing to do with.

    In the story, three Canadian club doctors spoke out on the abuse of over-the-counter painkillers by soccer players in Canada.

    Two talked about how the practice – which can lead to severe health issues later in life - is common among veteran players. They all spoke about better education of youth players who were taking them en masse without knowing the risks.

    The story garnered less reaction than I had expected.

    The Internet could have been to blame. The Blue Jays just won the World Series yesterday – or so is my understanding. And David Beckham vs Lionel Messi was taking up the remaining virtual head space.

    The other option - and probably the likely one - is that this issue just isn’t that sexy. It didn’t have players getting busted. It didn’t have the words 'steroids' or 'performance enhancing drugs' in the headline. This certainly wasn’t a Lance Armstrong-like undoing.

    In fact, it is all pretty innocuous. Which, in my view, makes it all the more dangerous.

    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

    I spoke to a number of players – current and former professionals – as I prepared this piece. None of them wanted to speak on the record, for which I can’t blame them. Even admitting to abuse of something like Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) is still, potentially, putting your career and breading winning at risk. Not to mention the stigma that can go along with such a thing.

    But while they didn’t want to cop to their own indiscretions – something that, according to those club doctors, a large percentage of veterans are doing – they unequivocally admitted that it is going on. And many more added that the abuse and self-prescribing, or in their words ‘maintenance,’ is worse among college students. Those, who are trying to push past an injury to get noticed by scouts, or those who are trying to make it through the grueling preseason camps.

    In all likelihood, the current veterans are taking as much, if not more, than they took in college (wear and tear and all that) but by deflecting to the college years, it certainly seems to indicate that is where the habits are forming.

    I knew a number of guys through school who would think nothing of popping 7-10 a day to help cope with the pain that comes with the preseason boot camps. For some of them, who were carrying injuries but didn’t want to risk getting cut, it was what they did to help get around after practice was finished.

    My wife, who is now a physiotherapist, and played for York during the Paul James era tells similar stories of players regularly self-prescribing just to get by. His camps – for the men and women – were notoriously intense. (For the sake of clarity, and to avoid legal headaches, James had nothing to do with their self-prescribing)

    Even if you didn’t play the college game, or at a high level, I realize there will still be some weekend warriors saying, ‘So what? I take painkillers all the time and I’m fine.”

    I can admit to having done the same. You don’t think much of it because they’re so readily available and seemingly harmless but the risks (liver, kidney, stomach problems) are real.

    What this new research is showing is that not only are the NSAIDs capable of long term harm, they actually prevent the injury from healing properly. According to the club doctors I spoke to in that piece, you want a certain amount of inflammation to assist the healing. These drugs - which are sold on curing minor aches and pains - can realistically extend it if the injury doesn't heal properly.

    So strip away the once perceived medical benefits of taking an NSAID – reducing inflammation to help the injury heal – and what you have is players, across many age groups in the sport, self prescribing pain medication for themselves.

    That still might not be enough for some to warrant that big, sexy headline but given the context, and the apparent widespread nature of the problem, it should.



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