Taking Pain Pills In Sports Research Paper

When it comes to football, being replaced is always in the back of the athlete’s mind. The reason for that is because there will always be someone that is younger or faster than you. Even though you are a veteran, once you aren’t able to perform at the same elite level constantly required you will be let go, which is why athlete will do whatever they need to do to remain on the team. One example of this includes taking pain pills and sleeping pills. Without these pills, the athletes are not able to function like an average person. Dr. Huizenga even went as far as saying as calling the players a bunch of pharmacists because they knew every capsule and tablet by size and color (Huizenga,41), he also called them self-accredited endocrinologists and hormone specialists (Huizenga,135). That was intriguing because during his time at the combine analyzing prospective players, he talked to Sean who stood out to him. Sean …show more content…
Many veterans were using these pills in order to help with the leg cramps that would occur because of the intense running in the two day practices. By taking those pills, Don Kimball almost died because of his potassium levels being too high. Along the lines of recovery from practice, recoveries from an injury is a major factor as well (Huizenga,100). Lyle had blown out his Achilles tendon and used steroids to get back in the game once his fans started saying he was not as big as he used to be or other players who hurt their shoulders and were told by Rosenfield that it would heal their shoulders faster (Huizenga,50). Lyle was also taking steroids since college and wished he did not have to but it was something he had to do in order to stay competitive (Huizenga,103). The urgency to heal faster, get bigger, stay healthy were the requirements for remaining at the elite level and that criteria was met by using anabolic steroids such as testosterone and Bea