One of the more common things that many athletes have either tried or do frequently is take Advil before a game. I personally have done it before baseball due to elbow problems and I can say from experience that it definitely felt helpful. As a whole, my body was not sore as it usually was. In my throwing elbow especially, I couldn’t really feel any pain which was a huge difference from when I hadn’t taken it.
Drugs such as Aspirin, Yylenol, Advil, and Aleve are all classified as NSAIDs or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications. They work by preventing your body from making prostaglandins which are used for calling inflammation to an injury, or your muscles after or during working out or playing sports. In a study done in 2012 9 healthy, fit men were put through 4 different trials. First, take Ibuprofen twice before a bike workout, then to do the same bike workout but without the Ibuprofen. Next they were given Ibuprofen twice during rest, and lastly to rest without Ibuprofen. The results of this experiment were “both ibuprofen consumption and cycling resulted in increased I-FABP levels, reflecting small intestinal injury. Levels were higher after cycling with ibuprofen than after cycling without ibuprofen, rest with ibuprofen, or rest without ibuprofen.” The conclusion was that “this is the first study to reveal that ibuprofen aggravates exercise-induced small intestinal injury and induces gut barrier dysfunction in healthy individuals. We conclude that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs consumption by athletes is not harmless and should be discouraged (Top Institute Food and Nutrition, Wageningen, The Netherlands.)”
Now knowing that taking these before working out will definitely make me think twice about it. With that being said, the conclusion was that it was not very harmful which makes me believe that taking it every once in a while when sore has much more positive effects than negative ones.
Sources:
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/exercise/should-you-take-ibuprofen-before-exercise?page=all
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22776871
I can relate to this very much. Like you I have had countless elbow and shoulder injuries due to baseball, and at my peak I was taking 4 advil almost everyday after practice. Even though the advil was making my elbow feel better I would experience some stomach pain. That is because these type of anti inflammatory can be harmful to your stomach lining when not taken in moderation. Even though this is true I do believe that like any anti inflammatory it should be fine for you when taken in moderation. It is also a bad idea to take these drugs on an empty stomach because the chances of it harming your stomach would increase. So you should take these drugs with bread or something that can help your stomach break it down easier. But overall I agree with your statement that even though this could be harmful, it should be fine in moderation and can be extremely beneficial to athletes who experience injuries. http://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/features/anti-inflammatory-drugs-rheumatoid-arthritis
I had no idea that Advil could be harmful to the body if taken before exercising. I found this post very interesting and I’ll definitely keep it in mind next time I think about taking pain medication.