Education may be able to curb PED usage

Throughout history, athletes have sought methods to give them an extra competitive edge. Some athletes have achieved this through good nutrition, innovative training or equipment, while others have taken substances to alter their bodies, improve their cognition or heighten their abilities to improve the chance of victory.

Athletes in ancient Greece consumed special diets and potions in the hope of improving their results. In the 1900s, marathon runner Thomas Hicks took a dose of strychnine, among other things, nearly dying in his bid to win a gold medal at the 1904 Olympics. In more recent times, the headlines are littered with the names of elite athletes who competed with the aid of performance-enhancing substances (PES). However, athletes who use PES are the exception, not the rule.

“It is clear that a vast majority of athletes in most sports do not use performance-enhancing drugs,” said Gary A. Green, MD, clinical professor in the UCLA division of sports medicine, Los Angeles, and medical director of Major League Baseball.

“We should not lump the minority who try to cheat with those who play by the rules. Unfortunately, it is the ones who get caught cheating who get the headlines,” Green told Orthopedics Today. “You do not get any headlines for not taking something.”

Click here to read the full Cover Story in the April issue of Orthopedics Today.