Are pain pills performance enhancing?
Tiger Woods sets up playoff with dramatic birdie - Yahoo! News
As for his knee pain during the round, Woods said: “Did it get better? No. I took some things to relieve that so I feel a bit better now.”
Care to explain that remark, Tiger? Are pain pills performance enhancing when the alternative is to drop out (i.e. not perform at all) because the pain is too much? I’m don’t think they are, but I think it makes for an interesting debate. Football, baseball, and hockey are all littered w/ examples of guys taking cortisone shots, etc. at a break and then coming back out to play. Heck, there was a guy for the Montreal Canadiens who broke his foot and came back in overtime to score the winning goal. Of course, I think back then all he did was tape it up, but maybe I am mistaken.
So, are pain pills performance enhancing when they allow you to focus on the task at hand instead of the pain? Isn’t playing w/ pain one of the marks of a champion? Again, I’m not questioning Tiger. I love the way he plays the game. I love his approach, his work ethic, etc. I’m just wondering what role pain pills play in the current scheme of doping, steroids, etc. and I think Tiger’s comment makes for an interesting discussion.
July 13th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Interesting post. I recently busted my knee while skateboarding and have been on lots of vicodin (found out I tore my acl, broken bones in knees). I will tell you, pain pills are def not performance enhancing…just performance maintenance. Should people not be able to eat Wheaties before a match because it enhances their performance? You have to draw the line somewhere!