Injury to addiction: How pain management is affecting athletes

Athletes face unique addiction risks from pain management. Safer strategies like physical therapy can protect performance without opioid dependency.

You might not associate professional athletes with debilitating addiction; in reality, addiction in sports is a serious problem. While serious athletes are less likely to seek our narcotics, they’re more likely to face serious injury requiring pain management. 

Sadly, some athletes are not aware of the risk of prescription medications like opioids. According to research from Ekhtiari et al, around 52% of NFL players had used prescription opioids at some point in their career. 

Let’s explore how athlete pain recovery can sometimes be a gateway to addiction. 

Why Athletic Health Solutions Often Leave Athletes Vulnerable

Everyone is susceptible to addiction, but the pain management strategies used by athletes make them uniquely vulnerable. In competitive team sports like football or hockey, playing through the pain and returning to the field quickly after an injury is common. 

Athletes don’t want to let their teammates down, and those who play at a high level often have a more competitive mindset. This kind of mentality means athletic health solutions like opiates seem like a good pain management solution. 

Sadly, opiates like Oxycodone and Hydrocodone have high potential for addiction. According to the Mayo Clinic, it’s vital for those taking such drugs to take them as directed. Whether you’re chasing a high or fighting through the pain to support your team, the addictive potential is the same. 

Addiction Creeps In

The motivations driving addiction can be quite different for athletes. While most fall into addiction, chasing a high, or for escapism, athletes are usually motivated by pursuing their goals.

Painkillers can help athletes keep up with training and competing. Using prescription painkillers, athletes can return to training sooner than they should. This can make the existing injury worse, so the initial prescription needs to be extended. 

Sometimes athletes might exceed their prescribed dose so they can participate in a big game or a crucial training session. That’s not the typical “addict” mindset, so it’s easy to ignore the problem. 

The problem is more pronounced in certain states, for example, according to Addiction Group, states like Georgia prescribe opiate medications at a higher rate, which is reflected in the higher rate of drug detox rehab programs in Georgia.

Contact Sports and Sports Injury Risks

Those who play contact sports like football are much more at risk, especially if they use pain management medication to reduce recovery time. Athletes in these sports face repeated trauma across a season, making recovery harder and addiction much more likely. 

Pain Management Strategies That Reduce the Risk

It is becoming less common for sports medicine to use opioids as the main painkiller. Instead, athletes should use these approaches:

• Instead of merely masking pain, physical therapy and rehabilitation programs address its underlying cause.
• Anti-inflammatory treatments that offer pain relief without the addiction risk
• Cognitive behavioural techniques help athletes manage discomfort without relying on medication

 Responsible Pain Management

In a short amount of time, athletes realize that to avoid opioid addiction, teams, coaches, and athletes should adopt alternate pain management strategies that can help keep them on the field and competitive without risking addiction. 

If you’re interested in learning more about similar topics, see our other blog post.