Painkillers in football

Usually everything starts with a bruise, a stretched ligament or a taped ankle. If only there wasn't the pain. But there's something everyone does, isn't there?

Who doesn't know it. The next game is the most important one. This decisive game. Just this one. And then the next one. Painkillers have become an integral part of many toilet bags and football bags.

And the willingness of players to take them grows and grows. And why not? Painkillers in football - even the pros take them.

Former Schalke-player Max Meyer took them even when he didn't need them. Dejan Lovren also took five painkillers before every game for some time.

When you have to go on dialysis three times a week because of a kidney defect, like Ivan Klasnic? Or even if you have to end your career prematurely due to a protracted illness, like Alvaro Dominguez?

But perhaps it would make much more sense in the amateur sector not to take painkillers at all.

Perhaps we should be glad that no one is "burning us out," as is all too often the case at the professional level.

This well-intentioned "tearing yourself apart for your club" in all honor, but your body wants to tell you something through the pain. That it needs a short break to be able to fully attack again. That you should take care of it and not always just fight the symptoms.

Above all, it is more important to find out why you have suffered injury XY for the third time than to suppress your pain with tablets.

Above all, you should always cure it for your own sake and seek professional aftercare.

Just one example: an injury to your ankle joint limits the mobility in this area.

The more structures are damaged, the higher is the restriction of your "range of motion" (short: ROM).

You must begin to regain this lost mobility in time to regain your full range of motion.

With poorly healed or untreated injuries, this range of motion is sometimes significantly reduced.

Let's take your ankle again.

A torn ligament that has not really been healed, you quickly started training again and, with the help of a tape, put weight on the injured structures after just a few days.

Since then, you've always played with tape, but for a few weeks you've suddenly had slight knee complaints.

By losing your full range of motion, your anterior muscle chain, which runs through your ankle and knee toward your hip, suddenly gets a lot more pull during physical exertion.

Who gets the "blame"? Exactly, sometimes your knee.

Would you voluntarily swallow a tiny hand grenade? No?

But many of us do it regularly - without knowing it.

The hand grenades we're talking about are called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). In short, ibuprofen, aspirin, diclofenac & co. NSAIDs are the best-selling pharmaceutical. They "blow up" the mucosal wall of the stomach and intestines like a hand grenade.

Holes in the intestinal mucosa (leaky gut) allow foreign bodies to enter our bodies.

These foreign bodies, in turn, increase inflammation levels, causing you to feel more pain and take even more NSAIDs. The vicious cycle has begun. Furthermore, it can lead to stomach ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding.

Painkillers have their raison d'être, but there should be a warning against their misuse and regular consumption. Weigh the vastly underestimated risks carefully before you reach for Ibu & Co next time.