NCAA is working to develop new guidelines and legislation for the use of painkillers by college athletes, according to Fox31 Denver.
Here are six facts:
1. NCAA Chief Medical Officer, Brian Hainline, MD, stated our nation needs to change its attitudes toward painkiller use and make it more difficult for athletes to receive a prescription. He said, "It's too easy when an athlete is sore, to say well, why don't you take this, you'll feel better before the game."
2. Fox31 Denver's investigation revealed leading college sports programs throughout the Untied States have been purchasing thousands of doses of numbing agents, narcotics and a pain injection, Toradol.
3. Toradol is a controversial postoperative pain injection that is categorized as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory. It is popular among athletes during and before competition because it provides fast-acting pain relief.
4. Since 2012, student-athletes at the University of Oklahoma were provided 4,086 doses of Toradol. The university does not have a written policy on the use and administration of Toradol nor does it have a broader policy on the use of painkillers for student-athletes.
5. The NCAA also lacks a policy concerning when a coach or athletic trainer can give a student-athlete pain medication.
6. Dr. Hainline claims the first way to combat this problem is to convince coaches, team physicians and athletes that painkillers should be the last option to treat pain.
More articles on sports medicine:
12 orthopedic surgeons treating professional athletes — September 2015
Dr. William Meyers to perform surgery on Seattle Mariners' Robinson Cano: 5 points
Over 2M high school athletes complete concussion awareness course — 5 things to know