Study suggests ibuprofen use before exercise risky

Popping a painkiller or two before a race or a hard workout is common practice for many runners, especially when struggling with mid-season niggling pains and repetitive stress injuries.

But recent science would suggest that the trade-off for pain relief during strenuous physical activity may not be worth it.

In a 2011 study performed in the Netherlands, cyclists who biked hard for an hour revealed increased blood levels and slight gastrointestinal leakage.

During exercise, digestion gets put on the back burner says the study’s lead author Dr. Kim van Wijck. Blood is prioritized during strenuous activity, and instead of being sent to the intestines, it’s diverted to other areas of the body that are working hard to maintain the pace.

Without the necessary blood supply, the intestines go into a state of panic and begin to leak. The study also revealed, thankfully, that the intestines do quickly bounce back from the state of shock within an hour after stopping the activity.

Building on those findings, a new study published this month in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that ibuprofen use actually drastically elevates intestinal shock and blood diversion to that area of the body.

Researchers at Maastricht University monitored a group of athletes who were instructed to take 400 mg of ibuprofen the night before and morning of their trips to the lab. At the lab they rode a stationary bike hard for one hour and their blood levels were tested after the fact. At certain points during the trials, researchers had certain riders take the drug just before beginning their ride. What they found was that those athletes that took ibuprofen just before the exercise showed even higher gastrointestinal shock.

Dr. van Wijck said that not only is this unpleasant and problematic for the typical endurance athlete, but that the long term effects of those that ingest ibuprofen daily could be severe. One year of daily use before exercise could cause significant stomach damage, according to the study.