Young Athletes and Addiction to Painkillers

Young Athletes and Addiction to Painkillers The scene is all too familiar at sporting competitions these days: a rough tackle, a hard slide, or a freak accident that leads to an injury. After receiving treatment at the doctor’s office or hospital, an athlete is sent home, usually along with a prescription for painkillers in order to aid in the recovery process. This is especially true for young athletes, particularly in high school. As more young athletes are prescribed medication such as OxyContin, Percocet, and Vicodin for their pain, there is a greater chance that their use can lead to a dependence on harder drugs. By looking at how painkiller use by young athletes can lead to addiction, parents and coaches will know how to help athletes and get affordable drug treatment if necessary.

Athletics and the Winning Mindset Athletes are coached and encouraged on a daily basis to give 100 percent of their effort to the team. It is due to this mindset that many feel a personal responsibility to getting back to playing shape as soon as possible if they are injured. According to USA Today, one quarter of the 7.5 million high school athletes in America suffer a sports injury each year.1 This leads to pain medication from a doctor; more, if the athlete is injured more than once.

Often athletes are written a full prescription for pain pills when, in fact, they will not need to take the full amount before they have recovered. In addition, many athletes and their parents are not informed about the addictive nature of prescription painkillers or what to do once the medication is no longer necessary. Instead, the remaining pills sit around the house, or the athlete begins to use them as preemptive medicine to “play through the pain.�

How Prescription Painkillers Lead to Serious Problems Prescription painkillers are just the first step in the addiction cycle for young athletes, and can lead to more serious problems and death. Over time, athletes may become dependent on the medication either as a way to prepare for competition, or to experience the numbness and high while trying to escape the challenges and stresses of their lives. Troubles arise once the prescription runs out. Pain pills can cost a lot of money on the streets, but similar highs from drugs like heroin can be purchased for less. However, there is unfortunately a fatal price to pay.

A recent feature by Sports Illustrated cited data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that heroin-overdose deaths have almost tripled in number annually since 2010.2 The story also notes that a full 80 percent of heroin users begin using after first abusing opioid painkillers. Too many stories begin with a star high school athlete suffering an injury, and end with him or her overdosing on pain pills or heroin.

This is why parents, coaches, and athletes should have an open conversation about the risks involved with prescription painkillers, as well as how to know when to get help. Yellowstone Recovery in Southern California is an excellent resource for the topic and provides affordable drug treatment services to help patients regain control of their lives.