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[at-l] pain killers and overuse

Just FYI for everybody, Ibuprophen's main advantage for use with injuries
is that it is an anti-inflammatory medication.  The pain-killer part is
just frosting on the cake.  The stress syndrome is in part an inflammation
response to the stress. Ibuprophen, aleve, and lots of others in your
local drug store act by reducing inflammation, thus working on the cause
of the pain, rather than just killing the pain.

Of course it's better still to eliminate or reduce the root cause of the
inflammation which in the case of stress fractures, would be the overuse.
So if you are taking 4 ibup at a time, 4 times a day (not recommended for
very long!) so you can keep hiking, something is gonna give!
There is a place for ibup (I take it when hiking, but I only go out for
a week at a time), but Terry's right, all things in moderation!

>In conjunction with Sharon's informative post (below), as well as some
>past accounts of hikers taking daily multiple doses of ibuprofen (or
>other pain killer), it might be worth considering that use of pain
>killers coul present the danger of allowing one's body to ignore the
>warning signals of pain, thereby allowing further damage to be done if
>the offending activity continues -- which use of those pain killers tends
>to encourage by nullifying the body's warning system (pain).
>

Have fun out there!

Sharon

Sharon Sharpe
Head Athletic Trainer
Wellesley College
Wellesley, MA
ssharpe@wellesley.edu



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