Surveys of elite adult athletes reveal high use of analgesics, particularly non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). While medications like paracetamol have a generally low risk profile, certainly compared with NSAIDs or opioids, using pain medications to mask an injury or prevent pain might increase the risk of injury or make an existing injury worse.

Julie Pedersen - physiotherapist and PhD student (University of Southern Denmark) - is studying what, how, when and why youth athletes use pain medications. Today, Julie discusses how clinicians, coaches, parents and schools can support safe use of analgesics among youth athletes.

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RESOURCES

Prospective study of Danish youth analgesic use: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2024.12407

Prevalence, frequency, adverse events data from youth athletes: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36100523/