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psst: wanna buy some steroids? 24-Nov-2005 At 2:09:17 PM tmarsh

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I've posted this here not because it relates to any specific accident or injury but rather this is the forum where most health/medical issues get discussed.

I'm interested in fostering some debate on the role or otherwise of anabolic steroids in the climbing world. For the moment, I want to leave aside any 'fairness' issues that might arise if you were a competition climber and also leave aside the fact that most testosterone or nandrolone derivatives are classed as drugs of dependence and therefore illegal to possess and use unless prescribed.

I have no experience in the use of steroids, but I do understand this: steroids don't necessarily make you bulk up, they simply permit you to recover from weight training faster, and promote muscle fibre development in response to that training. If you took steroids and sat on your arse watcing telly, you wouldn't expect to get any real benefit.

If steroids permitted faster recovery from training, then surely they could be used to allow more - and more intense - training for climbing, and would promote specific strength gains.

Is this 'wrong'? The way I see it, the banning of steroids in a sporting context is largely to achieve a 'level playing field' as between athletes, without creating a situation where steroid use/abuse would be *mandatory* simply in order to compete. The list of banned agents is modified as technology catches up or as attitudes to certain drugs changes. there is not necessarily consistency between sporting bodies either: a drug may be permitted in some codes (ie US baseball) but banned in others (ie Olympic competition). Equally over time, some drugs are added to the list, creating the situation where some records were set using certain drugs which would be now illegal. Cycling is a great example of this: amphetamine use was rife in the european peloton in the 60s; Pedro Delgado tested positive to steroids that weren't at that time banned by the UCI etc etc.

Non-competition climbing is an inherently individual sport. When someone projects a climb, there is no competitor other than themselves. If an individual decided to use performance-enhancing drugs, would it make any difference? My view is that it shouldn't, but I would also imagine that if word got out that the FA of Australia's first grade 35 was on the juice, then the broader climbing community might well regard the ascent as somehow tainted.

Like many other people, I have used non-steroidal anti inflammatories to manage things like shoulder injuries and elbow tendonitis. I have on occasion, taken quite a c--ktail of prescription and non-prescription NSAIDs simply in order to be able to climb at all.* I have no doubt at all that my use of those drugs on those occasions was definitely performance enhancing. Yet when it comes to managing injuries, it's as if a different set of standards apply.

I'm not sure if there are any concrete answers on the use of steroids in climbing, but I'd be interested to hear anyone else's views on the subject, particualrly if they have any more specific knowledge of the likely benefit or harm associates with its use.

tim

*getting juiced on ketoprofen, celebrex, ibuprofen and codein before a climb may help you get up the route. (it helped me) It may also make you topple over when you try and do up your shoelaces afterwards (just like I did). It will almost certainly allow you to aggravate the injury you were taking the drugs for in the first place to the point where you need surgical intervention. By all means do it, but don't think for a minute that you're going to get away with it.