Do you have an Ibu?
There is no longer any doubt that increased physical activity reduces cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity and related problems, many other diseases and overall mortality. In 2018, the Scientific Advisory Board issued guidelines for dissemination to the United States Department of Health and Human Services. This showed that increased physical activity also improves mental performance, sleep quality and perceived quality of life, and reduces the likelihood of depression and anxiety. The reduction in healthcare costs through sport can hardly be overestimated!
However, it is also clear that sports involving physical contact such as soccer, handball, American football, ice hockey and others can lead to a wide range of injuries and the resulting long-term impairments and complaints, which is likely to reduce the overall positive impact of sport and also increase absences due to illness and costs in companies.
However, a further reduction in the positive impact of physical activity on health and quality of life also threatens from another angle:
Do you have an Ibu?
This article was published in Zeit.online on January 14, 2018 and hits a very sore spot!
Today, it must be assumed that more than 50% of amateur athletes take painkillers more or less regularly!
Toni Graf-Baumann, member of the FIFA Anti-Doping Committee, reports on the “excessive use” of painkillers in professional soccer: “It is frightening how uncritically painkillers are used in soccer. Voltaren (diclofenac), ibuprofenor even aspirin are swallowed as a matter of course, as if you were drinking a coffee – morning, noon and night.”
More than 60% of marathon runners take painkillers before the race, women even more frequently than men.
Rafael Nadal’s statement that he couldn’t play without painkillers shows what is commonplace among tennis players!
“Have you got an Ibu?” is something you regularly hear from your teammates at medal matches and golf tournaments!
Due to the serious side effects of painkillers, which often only become apparent years later, it is to be expected that the actually positive effect of sport on health, lifespan and well-being will be reduced in the studies!
Serious, even fatal side effects can occur with all painkillers. Known side effects include impaired kidney function, damage to the stomach and intestinal mucosa, resulting in gastric and intestinal bleeding, which can lead to anemia or worse. Regular use of acid blockers reduces the likelihood of gastric bleeding, but other side effects are to be expected!
As a recent study showed, the probability of suffering from ibuprofen or Diclofenac (Voltaren) is 50% more likely to suffer a heart attack within the first few days of taking them !
Anyone who develops musculoskeletal complaints during or after sport should be aware that they are doing something wrong! They are using medication to suppress the body’s cries for help in order to adapt the load to their performance. It is not the end of sporting activity that is necessary, no, even the preparation for physical activity must be adapted to the performance, the performance must be reasonably increased without neglecting muscles not involved in the strain. Stretching also seems to have regained an important place in the follow-up to sporting activities.
The solution: warming up and proper training:
Competitive athletes warm up before the competition, but we amateur athletes go out on the pitch like this; why warm up, we have Ibu! Running out, stretching after intensive physical exertion superfluous thanks to Diclo? Certainly not!
A good basic endurance reduces the likelihood of injury as a result of incorrect strain and fatigue. Extremely important is sport-specific balance training with training of all the large and small muscles. Coordination training and stretching exercises should drastically reduce the frequency of muscle pain (back training reduces back pain by 80 %!). Then the athlete will not need painkillers, or at most only occasionally!