Ergogenic aids and the athlete

In the complex world of sports, today, many athletes and coaches are in a continuous search “how to gain a competitive advantage to improve athletic performance.” The slightest improvement in athletic performance often means the difference between “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”

Coaches as well as athletes utilize special aids to enhance the athletic performance known as ergogenic aids. An ergogenic aid is any agent, substitute or technique that improves physical performance through its particular effect on human body. The term ergogenic aids also refers to any substance, process or procedure that may enhance the performance through improvement of strength, speed, response time or endurance of the athlete.

The use of doping substances in many sports and on all continents has become a major public health issue. The problem of drug abuse in sports first was tackled by the international sports authorities, in the form of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), during the 1960s. An official definition of doping first was given by the IOC in 1964 and the first programs of antidoping tests were activated by the IOC and its newborn Medical Commission in 1967. The global and universal characteristics of doping led to the formation in 1999 of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), a unique collaboration between sports and governments. WADA is founded on equal partnership between public authorities and Olympic sport. Since then, as mandated by the World Anti Doping Code, the WADA has been responsible for the upgrade and publication of the list of “Prohibited substances and practices”. The 2014 list of Prohibited substances is now available at http://www.wada-ama.org/en/Science-Medicine/Prohibited-List 

Classification of performance-enhancing aids:

• Acceptable practices or substances. 
• Questionable or potentially harmful practices and substances. 
• Illegal practices and substances.

Acceptable practices or substances:

• amino acids, protiens
• sports drinks
• vitamin E
• relaxation techniques
• carbohydrate approaches (loading,feeding, replenishment)
• water (prehydration, hydration, rehydration)
• minerals and liquid food suppliments
• psychological approaches.

Questionable or potentially harmful practices and substances:

• caffeine
• alcohol
• nicotine- tobacco, Heroin
• oxygen utilization (before, during and after performance)
• marijuana, bee pollen, bicarbonate ingestion

Illegal practices and substances:

• anabolic-androgenic steroids
• diuretics, 
• amphetamines, cocaine
• blood doping (RBC reinfusion)
• beta blockers
• human growth hormone

Rationale for use of performance-enhancing aids: Use or Abuse?

• greater success and potential in sports.
• accessibility of and exposure to ergogenic aids.
• peer pressure and peer acceptance.
• pressure by coach, trainer, or physician.
• legality of substance or technique.
• shortcut to goal attainment.
• ease of administration.
• lack of fear of potential adverse health effect.
• performance stress relief.

references:

• Zachazewski , J.E.: Athletic Injuries and Rehabilitation. W.B. Saunders Company
• Drug Abuse in Sports, Utox Update 2002, volume 4, number 1.
• Catlin D. H. Medicine and science in the fight against doping in sport. J Intern Med 2008; 264: 99–114.

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