Drugs in mass sports

Prof. Dr. Ellen Niederberger, Institut für klinische Pharmakologie, Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt
on November 26, 2018

In Germany, about 50% of people do sports in their free time to find a balance to work, to improve or maintain fitness and to stay healthy. Many recreational athletes regularly take part in competitions in order to check their performance level and possibly also to achieve personal best performances through the stimulus of the competition situation. In return, they sometimes push themselves to their physical limits, which can lead to muscle pain, joint pain or prolonged overuse pain during or after the workout/competition. Some athletes take medication during or before sport to increase or maintain performance or to suppress pain and continue training or participate in competition.

Prof. Niederberger showed in her presentation that the risks of taking drugs, which are sometimes drastic, are often not considered. The sporty effort can intensify the side effects of the painkillers additionally and lead so to disturbances in organ functions.