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Dangers of riding on anti-inflammatories


tombeej

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For many of you this is old news, but sometimes these things need to be repeated.

 

Yesterday I was talking to a guy who sometimes takes Nurofen/Cataflam before a ride - especially if he's slightly injured. His thinking is that the anti inflammatory will minimise pain & swelling, and speed up recovery (and maybe help him ride faster with less pain).

 

Big mistake - it does the opposite.

 

As my physio says, the body's natural inflammatory response during exercise is an evolutionary trick designed to assist, not hinder. So is lactic acid buildup. Don't try to squash it, let it happen. Your body needs it.

 

An interesting 2009 posted in the NY Times:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/phys-ed-does-ibuprofen-help-or-hurt-during-exercise/

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Yesterday I was talking to a guy who sometimes takes Nurofen/Cataflam before a ride - especially if he's slightly injured.

Doesn't sound like a very bright idea to me. The pain killer / anti inflamatory dulls the pain, the rider pushes harder than he should, and makes the problem worse.

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For many of you this is old news, but sometimes these things need to be repeated.

 

Yesterday I was talking to a guy who sometimes takes Nurofen/Cataflam before a ride - especially if he's slightly injured. His thinking is that the anti inflammatory will minimise pain & swelling, and speed up recovery (and maybe help him ride faster with less pain).

 

Big mistake - it does the opposite.

 

As my physio says, the body's natural inflammatory response during exercise is an evolutionary trick designed to assist, not hinder. So is lactic acid buildup. Don't try to squash it, let it happen. Your body needs it.

 

An interesting 2009 posted in the NY Times:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/phys-ed-does-ibuprofen-help-or-hurt-during-exercise/

 

:thumbup:

 

I completely agree with this and had to learn the hard way myself. I used to do allot of trail running until I tore some muscle fibres in my lower calf and smashed my shin on a rock. Started taking an anti-inflammatory every day for the pain I experienced afterwards. Funny thing was that the pain never went away, just stayed the same or even got worse. Eventually got fed up and completely stopped taking them and got into mountain biking as I was desperate for any outdoor activity. I never looked back and have even started running again. At the end of the day I reckon that by using the anti-inflammatory, I slowed down my recovery time immensely.

 

Don't get me wrong there is always a time and a place for everything, but as you say tombeej, just be mindful and listen to your own body.

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It's dumb, but we all do it.

After 24 hours a few years back I landed up at hospital with my kidneys going in to failure from taking Myprodol's during the event.

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:thumbup:

 

I completely agree with this and had to learn the hard way myself. I used to do allot of trail running until I tore some muscle fibres in my lower calf and smashed my shin on a rock. Started taking an anti-inflammatory every day for the pain I experienced afterwards. Funny thing was that the pain never went away, just stayed the same or even got worse. Eventually got fed up and completely stopped taking them and got into mountain biking as I was desperate for any outdoor activity. I never looked back and have even started running again. At the end of the day I reckon that by using the anti-inflammatory, I slowed down my recovery time immensely.

 

Don't get me wrong there is always a time and a place for everything, but as you say tombeej, just be mindful and listen to your own body.

 

1000x :thumbup:

I read somewhere that NSAIDs prevent the regeneration of cartilage, so yep not a good idea

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It's dumb, but we all do it.

After 24 hours a few years back I landed up at hospital with my kidneys going in to failure from taking Myprodol's during the event.

 

Wow dude! Thats hectic!!

 

Did you fall asleep as well during the event?

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It's dumb, but we all do it.

After 24 hours a few years back I landed up at hospital with my kidneys going in to failure from taking Myprodol's during the event.

Jeepers Dangle :o That hit home.

 

 

To others reading this and thinking anti-inflammatories are all bad - they're not. Post exercise they're fine, and great when combined with elevation, compression and ice to the injury. Cataflam has been a life saver for me and my ITB issues.

 

The point is that if you want to ride/race with them, then you're heading for ***.

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Jeepers Dangle :o That hit home.

 

 

To others reading this and thinking anti-inflammatories are all bad - they're not. Post exercise they're fine, and great when combined with elevation, compression and ice to the injury. Cataflam has been a life saver for me and my ITB issues.

 

The point is that if you want to ride/race with them, then you're heading for ***.

 

It depends, 90% of the 9 hour plus runners in the Comrades run the final 2 hours on anti-Inflammatories, me included on a number of occasions, yes you can have issues if you overdose, but then eating too much fish can give you mercury poisoning, everything in moderation.

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The point is that if you want to ride/race with them, then you're heading for ***.

 

I agree fully, my issue was that I had a neck and shoulder injury from a crash a few weeks before the race, a few hours in to the race there was no looking back, that's when the mind get's stupid.

My wife who has been my second for the last 10 years wasn't happy and being in the medical field made sure that I was being careful as to how much I took.

I came in fro a lap and she was busy getting me some food, I "stole" two more Myprodol's and did this the next morning again.

At around 10 am. two hours before the finish my stomach became very bloated and my body started tingling.

 

I finished the race very happy with a good result.

Stayed for prize giving and craved a Wimpy strawberries and cream smoothie.

I got home, showered and collapsed on the bathroom floor.

 

The next I remember was seeing the ER room, and that's when I was told that had I not collapsed, I would probably not have made it, scary but very true.

The other problem is that these things dehydrate you as well.

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After completing IMSA and turning an ankle ,I was told by the sports doctor not to take any anti -inflammatories until my urine was back to the normal colour. The tabs can still affect your kidneys until they have recovered from the stress.

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I'm with grumpyoldguy on this one... everything in moderation. There is a big difference between starting a race on myprodol and consuming a bunch more myprodol during said race than there is with maybe taking a couple of nurofen in the latter stages of a tough event. Ultimately neither is sensible but you can normally get away with the latter. I guess the danger is where do you draw the line.

 

In my own highly relevant experience I once developed a pain in my shin while running. Instead of resting it, before I went out running I would put ibuprofen gel on my shin which made the pain tolerable and I just carried on. Anyway the net result was a stress fracture. Lesson learnt in terms of continuing to train on pain killers/antiinflamatories.

 

However that being said I have used nurofen in the latter stages of races to help me get to the end and will in all honesty continue to do so. If the difference between a finish and a DNF is a couple of painkillers/antiinflamatories I know what I will do everytime.... or maybe I should just train harder :)

 

p.s. Dangle - glad you survived your ordeal. 24 hour bike races are not for sissies.

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p.s. Dangle - glad you survived your ordeal. 24 hour bike races are not for sissies.

Certainly not, that's why I was back the next year.

Grumpy's words ring very true though, everything in moderation.

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For those who say "everything in moderation", I agree that generally that holds true for most things.

 

But I really have to ask: you did read that article in the New York Times (refer back to my original link)?

 

Even with all the science and research into the damage it causes to your body, you're still happy to ride/race on ibuprofen?

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