Gain without the Pain - documentary

[Bollo]

File on 4 on the radiogram is running a documentary about legal drug use in sport - "Gain without the Pain". It's an interesting listen (IMHO) because it covers the full gamut of legal drug use from amateur to international professional sports people.

There's only so much that can be squeezed into 40 minutes, but it manages to cover quite a few bases in the time, from performance gains to long term effects of anti-inflammatories to opioid addiction. It tips the hat at many sports (rugby figures heavily) but unsurprisingly cycling also gets a look in. Well worth a listen, especially if you regularly use painkillers to get through rides.

Linko......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08rq745

Mods: the programme is wide ranging enough to live outside the "Pro Cycling" forum, but feel free to move if you feel the need (Fitness?)

 

[reacher]

What's it saying about useing painkillers ?

 

[Bollo]

What's it saying about useing painkillers ?

Lots. Maybe listen to it.

 

[reacher]

Lots. Maybe listen to it.

your unable to give a brief summary of it then ? maybe you should listen to again

 

[Bollo]

your unable to give a brief summary of it then ? maybe you should listen to again

Are you actually serious?

 

[gbb]

I suspect there was a preamble to this programme on 5live the other day. Specifically regarding the use of painkillers an expert explained use of them forr the wrong reasons and over use actually exacerbates injury...or rather prevents the proper and natural healing process and can lead to the loss of ability to properly heal an injury at all.

 

[Bollo]

I suspect there was a preamble to this programme on 5live the other day. Specifically regarding the use of painkillers an expert explained use of them forr the wrong reasons and over use actually exacerbates injury...or rather prevents the proper and natural healing process and can lead to the loss of ability to properly heal an injury at all.

That was certainly an aspect of the programme, but it's full scope was impressively broad. Two bits stuck with me. The first was the segment with a sports scientist who was researching the performance benefits of anti-inflammatories (up to 20% under certain circumstances, but typically a couple of % - enough to make a difference between winner and also-ran in some sports). The second was the attitude of some amateur triathletes interviewed - some were quite happy to take anything that was deemed legal if they felt it could improve their performance. They either didn't consider or were willing to accept any side effects or long term damage. David Walsh was one of the talking heads.

 

[Slick]

I obviously could be very wrong, but this indestructible attitude is in mostly all younger people not just athletes. I also think that it's this natural belief that makes those athletes easier to persuade that anything that makes marginal gain is worth the risk. It's only when they come out the other side they realise how wrong they were.

 

[Sea of vapours]

A very interesting programme; well worth listening to.

Quite apart from the aspects mentioned above regarding amateur athletes being willing to mask pain to excess, voluntarily, there was a long section regarding the de facto mandatory taking of large quantities of various pain killers in professional sport, the outcome of which may often be assorted long term health damage. The fact that this is worse in the US, and indeed that there's a massive class action law suit going on at the moment with respect to American Football, is hardly a surprise, but there were several UK examples of what is effectively a culture where taking painkillers is necessary to success or, more typically, to continued success. It sounded remarkably similar to the '90s and '00s culture of 'needing' to use illegal PEDs in cycling in order to be competitive, with the differences being that the drugs themselves are legal and that they are reducing/masking dysfunction rather than enhancing function.