One of the things everyone experiences when getting in shape is pain. In order for muscles to grow, you have to push them beyond the point where they're comfortable.
When you exercise, body aches and discomfort are one of the results. It's what you do when the pain starts that can make the difference between getting fit... or falling flat.
In an effort to sell more products, over the counter pain medications are being marketed to young, physically fit adults as an easy way to stop post workout pain. Look inside many gym bags, and you'll see that message has caught on.
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What are the pills you take for minor
aches and pains doing to you?
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In the United States alone more than 70 million people are taking pills like ibuprofen to relieve pain and reduce inflammation. Ibuprofen is a class of drugs called NSAIDs or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
These simple little pills can blunt the pain of lactic acid buildup (which happens immediately after a workout) or delayed onset muscle soreness (which can happen a day or two after a workout). Pop a pill and the soreness is reduced.
Here's the problem. NSAIDs also decrease muscle growth. You read that right. Over the counter NSAIDs like ibuprofen and naproxen, as well as prescription NSAIDs like Celebrex actually hinder muscle growth. Here's how it happens.
When muscles are injured or stressed after a workout, an enzyme called cyclooxygenase (COX) is released. That enzyme inflames the muscle and causes pain. NSAIDs work by inhibiting the COX enzyme, reducing inflammation and the related pain.
Reducing pain is generally a good idea. But reducing pain by stopping inflammation is bad. Inflammation is something that muscles must go through to grow. What researchers at the University of Florida in Gainesville found, is that people who take NSAIDs after a workout are stopping the muscle-protein synthesis that's required for muscle growth. NSAIDs aren't the only culprit. Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol also suppresses protein synthesis.
There's more. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a notice on April 7, 2005 that said:
In other words, take these products longer than the labels suggest, and you could suffer "life-threatening" results. The FDA also urged manufacturer's to, "remind patients of the limited dose and duration of treatment of these products..." Because of the extreme risk, one of the prescription NSAIDs, Vioxx was even taken off the market.
That doesn't mean you should never take a pill when you're feeling pain, far from it. NSAIDs are appropriate, even necessary when you have an inflamed injury, need to reduce a fever or have a headache that won't stop. It just means you shouldn't be routinely popping a pill after every workout.
So do you just have to live with workout pain? Probably not. A recent study published in the journal Surgical Neurology showed a possible solution.
Researchers studied 125 people who took NSAIDs regularly for back and/or neck pain. The subjects were given 2,400 mg of omega-3 fatty acids for two weeks and then 1,200 mg a day from then on. After a month the researchers asked subjects about side effects, spine pain, joint pain and if anyone had stopped using NSAIDs.
An amazing 60% of the people who participated in the study stopped taking NSAIDs completely and reported that their overall pain levels had improved. The researchers concluded that up to two-thirds of people currently taking NSAIDs could stop them, switch to omega-3 supplements and alleviate pain from inflammation.
