Heel landing or forefoot landing?

With the barefoot trend and pose running in mind there is a tendency to consider the difference between forefoot and heel landing.

In the youtube video below you will see a runner in the biomechanics lab running both with shoes and without.

Most prominent observations:

• from heel landing he switches to mid- forefoot landing;
• the impact of the landing decreases;
• his calf muscle has to work harder;
• the muscle on the front of his lower leg (tibialis anterior) as to work less.

The biomechanist Joseph Hamill indicates that the length of the stride decreases while running barefoot. According to this researcher this will use more energy and is therefore less efficient. This contradicts with a previous posting I wrote on the Russian trainer / doctor Romanov. He states that the pose running method with forefoot landing and shorter strides is more fuel efficient (read this posting).

A final important observation is at the end of this video: If you take off your shoes and start running barefoot you will change you stride and technique. This makes you prone to injuries. So build it up: barefoot running.



Bron ABC Catalyst

Loosing weigth and your body clock

Triggered by a documentary on Dutch television I found a ABC Catalist episode which deals with the same subject but in English.

Core message is two fold:

1. You can't fool you body clock
2. Eating during the period you body claims as 'night' will cause weight gain, diabetes and obesity's

Wanna know more? Watch the documentary >>

Below you will see another documentary of the BCC on your body clock:

Be smarter: Start running

Fysical fitness improves cognative performance! That is the pleasant message of the eight commandment in the book 'De tien geboden voor het brein' (The Ten Commandments for the brain) written by René Kahn. The book is only available in Dutch, sorry...

Not that the regular runner of this blog still need reasons to run but it always nice to read that your favorite hobby can have nice effects.

As a runner, you live longer and you will earn more money as well. Which is conveniant as you can create the financial reserve to keep on buying running gear after you retired.

But if we, as a runner are cognitively so good, you might expect that we runners are curious and want to know why we are smarter thanks to running. Here is the anwser according to the book: Research on mice showed that mice with increased level of activity have an increased growth of new cells in the brains. This in contrast to the use of alcohol, this slows down the cell growth and hence Commandment Seven: do not drink. That means no alcoholic beverages. Because smart runners know that, especially during running, fluid intake is advisable to maintain your physical performance levels.

Not only is running good for the cognitive skills. It also helps to counter the aging of the brain (that is to say: in mice). And again here is how it works: The aging of the brain is predominant in the hippocampus. This is not only the part of the brains in which we store new information (which explains why it is more difficult to learn new things at a later age ). It is precisely the place where the above mentioned new cells are created.


OK, nice. It owrks in mice but do we compare ourselves with mice? Fortunately, according to Mr. Kahn, there is also evidence that this works the same in humans. In America, a group of 120 subjects, 65 years of age was randomly divided into two groups. Group 1 had to exercise three times per week, a 40 minute walk. The other half was also active but with yoga, stretching exercises and the like, activities that have no positive effect on fitness. After a year the walking group had increased fitness as you might expect. But also the hippocampus was increased by 2%! In the control group the hippocampus shrunk 1.5% as you normally expect with people of that age.

So you see that the saying 'Anima Sana In Corpore Sano', which stands for 'a healthy mind in a healthy body' is very true. It is surely a smart move to name your sportsbrand, 'ASICS' which is the acronym for this saying.

Micah True Died From Heart Disease

resources2.news.com.au

Micah True, known as Caballo Blanco, died in March while running in the wilderness of New Mexico (read related post on the tarahumara ambassador. He was found to have idiopathic cardiomyopathy, or heart disease with an unknown cause, said the Office of the Medical Investigator (source running.competitor.com).

I don't know about you but this is not telling me anything so googled the term a little bith and found more information on idiopathic cardiomyopathy. What I found is that cardiomyopathy can have various causes and if the cause is unknown it is called 'idiopathic cardiomyopathy'.

OK so what about this cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy is a chronic disease of the heart muscle (myocardium), in which the muscle is abnormally enlarged, thickened, and/or stiffened. The weakened heart muscle loses the ability to pump blood effectively, resulting in irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias) and possibly even heart failure.
This 'enlarged' triggered me to read on if there was any relation with his running but not that I could find. I think it would have been mentioned by the medical investigator. Read more in this medial dictionary.

Live longer: Start running

bron: http://www.vagabondish.com/running-cultures/   

A scientific study has shown that jogging on a regular base will help you live longer. In this extensive study (with 2000 joggers and 20.000 non joggers and started in 1976) the mortality rate among non joggers was higher than among the joggers. These results translate into 5.6 years extra for women. Men even gain a couple of months extra: 6.2 years extra for joggers compare to non-joggers.

The best results are to be gained with jogging between one hour en 2,5 hours a week at a moderate level that leaves you feeling a little breathless.

The research is done in Denmark by Peter Schnohr, chief cardiologist of the Copenhagen City Heart Study. "We can say with certainty that regular jogging increases longevity. The good news is that you don't actually need to do that much to reap the benefits," Schnohr said in a statement.

The findings were presented today (May 5) at a European Society of Cardiology meeting in Dublin. You can find the press release on the site of this meeting.

You can listen to an interview with Peter Schnohr.

On the same site you can also find an interview with experts on Sudden cardiac death in sports. It is an interview with Mats Borjesson, a specialist cardiologist in screening, and Nicole Panhuyzen-Goedkoop, a sports cardiologist. Usually there is an underlying cardiac disease which was unknown to the sporter. For this reason they promote screening.

CPR instructions for Boston Marathon Runners

The organization of the famous Boston Marathon has posted a CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) instruction on their website. With the use of a video runners, and of course other who are interested, can learn how they can perform CPR.
Being trained in CPR I strongly advise not only to watch this video. If you seriously what to help: try to find a first aid class nearby an practise! They have dummies on which you can practise the posture, the rhythm and the technique.
However let this not withhold you to come to the rescue the minute you see a runner collaps because even with this video in mind you might be able to save someones life!

So please watch careful en remember: It can also happen in everyday live.



For a success story:


Carlton Smith mentiones an AED. This stand for Automated External Defibrillator. More and more you can find the First Aid version of this devise in for example stores of public buildings.
Below you find an instructional video. Again I strongly advise to follow some classes to go through the drill as shown in the second part of this video:


Let hope you never have to use this knowledge!

Stretching:Yes or No? Don't change your habit!

I've written before on the topic of stretching. Should you do it yes or no and does it help?

Recent research has shown that, with recreational runners there is no difference in the risk your run (nice phrase in this context) on injuries related to your exercises.
With or without strechting one in six runners, in this research experienced an injuries. The risk of an injury was more related to high BMI (overweight) or prior injuries.

The 'test subjects' that changed their habbit and started stretching or stopped strechting ran a risk higher risk. On average roughly one in four experienced injuries.
The researches can not explane this results but to me, of course the disclaimer is in place - I'm not an expert -, is that it has to do with the changed muscle tone after stretching. It will have an effect, even minute, on your running style and every change in style makes you more prone to injuries untill the change has settled in and became the new standard.
So if you want to change; don't or (to my humble opinion) do it gradually....



more details on MedicineNet

Barefootrunnning, Forefoot or heellanding?

Found on Youtube. A video comparing, side by side, running on barefoot and on shoes.

I would say a great add fore barefootrunning.

Better still, the findings from a more scientific appraoch to the subject:

TITEL: The Effect of Running Shoes on Lower Extremity Joint Torques
link to the full article

Objective: To determine the effect of modern-day running shoes on lower extremity joint torques during running.

Results: Increased joint torques at the hip, knee, and ankle were observed with running shoes compared with running barefoot. Disproportionately large increases were observed in the hip internal rotation torque and in the knee flexion and knee varus torques. An average 54% increase in the hip internal rotation torque, a 36% increase in knee flexion torque, and a 38% increase in knee varus torque were measured when running in running shoes compared with barefoot.

Conclusions: The findings at the knee suggest relatively greater pressures at anatomical sites that are typically more prone to knee osteoarthritis, the medial and patellofemoral compartments. It is important to note the limitations of these findings and of current 3-dimensional gait analysis in general, that only resultant joint torques were assessed. It is unknown to what extent actual joint contact forces could be affected by compliance that a shoe might provide, a potentially valuable design characteristic that may offset the observed increases in joint torques.

I am almost sorry it is to cold outside a the moment to go running barefoot (there is snow and a freezing wind with a chillfactor bringing down the temp to minus 12 dergrees centigrade)

Running with a New Year''s Eve hangover

A new year!

May it be happy and a good year for running!

Get an early start and run right away on the first day of the new year. The first training of the year down the pocket! ...or not?
Did you have a few drinks to many last night? Do you suffer from a hangover from all the bubbles? You might think of skipping a training. Your hangover headache is one of the results from the dehydrating effect from alcohol. Kind of the same effect as a exertion headache.
Anyway, if you do have a hangover, consider skipping the training as starting a training while dehydrated is not very sensible. Actually, getting a hangover is not so sensbile to start with. So start being sensible. 1) Skipp the training today, 2) drink plenty fluids without alcohol, 3) do your training tomorrow and 4) If you realy are a runner: stay away from to many alcohol next time so it won't interfere with you running;-)

And...lets hope that compare to 2009 I am more productive on my english blog in 2010. But that shouldn't be to hard;-)

Running beats Nintendo's Brain Academy

People who want to exercise their brain can choose the game "Brain Academy" on the Nintendo Game Console. On the other hand you could consider to go out for a run! You not only train your body but make your brain fitter as well.

Researcher at the University of Pittsburgh made two groups of rhesus monkeys workout each day for three months. One group just jogged and one group ran. A third group of monkey was allowed to relax.

After these three months they were treated with an injection killing the cells that produce dopamine. The same cells that die in patients with Parkinson's disease. Official title of this research: "Impact of exercise on caudate and putamen in a non-human primate model of Parkinson's disease"

But now the results: The monkeys that had to run for three months were "resistant" to this injection. The lazy monkeys were no longer able to use the arm related to the half of the brain that was injected. The running monkeys still had control over their arm.

So here you are: Just another great reason to start running! Asics new it already many years ago: "Anima Sana in Corpore Sano”, a sound mind in a sound body.

And of course there is still this book I wrote about some time ago.



For those who still don't want to run: Trian Your Brain online

Iron in Kelloggs Special K

It is some time ago since I posted on my English blog.
In april I wrote (on ym Dutch blog on the benefits of iron. Of course you don't eat iron but as a pure substance. When you consume iron it is in the shape of minerals. At least so I thought untill recently.

On dutch TV we have programm that investigates the origine of food. It is called 'Keuringsdienst van Waarde'. The episode from last week addressen iron in food. More specific in Kelloggs Special K.
What did it show? Kelloggs contains iron in it pure form. In very small particals but pure iron nevertheless.

In its pure form and in this size of particals it is not very likely that it has any use. Besides most people eat cerials with milk. The body absorbs the calcium from milk far better.
Below the episode (of course in Dutch). If it is not working go to the site of hte programm.

By the way: This product is not allowed on the market in Danmark by the local food and health authoroties.

Headache after running: exertion headache

Headaches after running or exertion headache: Aparantly an interesting topic as it is the most read post on my Dutch blog. I found out it is not one of the blog translated so let me set this strainght today.
I wrote my first post on this topic in May 2007 when I forwarded a request from a trainer who wantend to learn from others experience on this topic. This today is my most read posting. In response to its popularity I added a second post.

In general you can bring back the cause of headache after running to three categories of causes.

1. Muscle tension: When running you virtually use all muscles of your body including those in the neck and shoulders. Some people pull up their shoulders or are tensed when they run for other reasons (f.e. stress at work). This tension will lead to pain and strain on the muscles. This pain can radiate into the head leading to headache. This strain can also lead to the build up lactic acid in the neck muscles (just as will happen with the build up in you leg muscles while running). This acid will dehydrate the brain(cells) causing tension on the meninges which casues the headache just like with an hangover. Other casues of pain (for example problems with the cervical vertebrae) can also lead to this kind headache. If you think it might be the strain of your neck muscles: try to relax while running, let your shoulders hang or do some relaxing exercises before of during the training.
2. Dehydration: When you run you loose water through perspiration. Of course you can compensate this for the large part by drinking during your exercise. You also loose electrolytes which are harder to replace. Both causes a disbalance of fluids in your brain and just like above this will cause a headache. Secondary: the loss of water can also result in a heat stroke / hyperthermia when it is no longer able to produce enough sweat to cool the body with perspiration. Here you can find advice on staying hydrated during running. And here the symptons and again some prevention tips of which the most important is, of course, drink!
3. Bloodvessels expanding en narrowing: When starting and exercise the boody widens the bloodvessels to enhance the transport of oxygen and nutriants to the working muscles. After the exercise the vessels narrow again. A good cooling down will slow down this process reducing the risk of a headache.
   "......a headache occurring after running or other similar exercise is more likely to be caused by the increased speed at which the blood is circulating..." [http://www.brainandspine.org.uk/]
   And if you already have a headache during the exercise and not just afterwards the sudden widening of vessels and increase of bloodflow might cause it so do a relaxed warming up so your body slowly can get used to the increased pace it has to addept to.

So I hope this helps as a start if you are looking for some answers on this topic. Otherwise just google around a bit more on exertion headache. It is always a good idea to consult an expert (doctor) preferable someone with understanding of running.

Running or watching TV?

And again deaths with marathons hit the headlines. Both inAthens and New York (2).

To counter this kind of news Runnersworld America posted this fictional news item a while ago:

A Mississippi man died yesterday while not running in a local marathon.
Les Actiff, 43, of Jackson, Miss., collapsed while watching television in his Hattiesburg home. Attempts to revive him failed, and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
He was still clutching a bucket of fried chicken.
Like 25% of the U.S. population, Actiff was obese. Federal statistics show that nearly a third of U.S. adults 20 years and older are obese; about two-thirds are overweight. Actiff had been a non-runner for more than 20 years, according to his family and friends.
Family members were stunned.
"I don't get it," said his wife, Bess. "He didn't run all his life. He was always so inactive. And now, this. You just never know, I guess."
"At least he died doing what he loved," she added. "Not running."
Spectators gathered outside Actiff's home were similarly shocked.
"I'll never not run," said one woman. "It's too dangerous."
A large man on a scooter, out walking his dog, was more fatalistic: "If you can avoid doing a single positive thing for your health your whole life, just sit around like a lump and eat poorly and then still drop dead... Well, I just don't know. I guess when it's your time, it's your time."
Actiff appears to have died from atherosclerotic heart disease, according to Lamar County Coroner Paul Caste.
A memorial service is planned for Saturday, at the Pizza Hut off of I-59.

And to add something to reflect upon for the Dutch readers / situation. Recent research has shown that 60% of the Dutch live rather unhealthy. So maybe we should take 30.000 people out of this 60% together a whole day long an give the moderate excercise. Lets see how they will do. I don't think you'll find regular runners among this 60%.
Further illustration: in the NL every year 45.000 people die of heartattacks or other cardiac related disseases. The totals a 125 each day! I wonder what these figures will be for the states. Now wonder the with well over 30.000 runners you have someone collapsing every now and then....
Combine this with research that has shown that fat around the belly (in Dutch) is very dangerous and the fact that running is one of the best fatburners and you wonder why not everybody turns off the telly and gets out at least 3 times a week for 45 minutes of running...

Added om 17/11: 21 year old in half marathon...

Runners bashing

On a Dutch blog on Fitness I found four arguments why you should not be running. I tried to find the original article on www.bccorefitness.com. However as the post on the Dutch blog is in English check it out on the Dutch fitnessblog.

The four arguments are:

1. Every landing is a strain on you body: Yeah sure, and lifting weights or loosing fat to show of muscles is very natural and healthy? If I am not mistaken we originate from the early humans that ran on the plains of africa to hunt for food. SO you could compare humans with running animals like a cheetah. Never saw them doing fitness!
2. Marathon Runners do not have a great body: Hmmm for toprunners that run for the prizemoney they might be right but honestly I prefer an well trained body of runner over some of the bodies shown on the site of bc core fitness. O yes, the argue that running a marathon will consume precious muscle tissue. They are kind of right on that point but that is why the average runner does not run more than two marathons a year. A well trained runner will recover in no time.
3. Runners should not have strength and power due to the mediocre pace of training. This is an argument that shows a complete lack of understanding of the way we runners train. I challenge a fitnesser anytime to run op a hill, do an interval at 90% HRmax, etc....
4. Last but not least they argue: Running is no, I repeat, NO good cardio exercise. Excuse me, there is no other sport that enables you to burn calories so effectively, train your heart muscle, lower your rest heartbeat, reduce your percentage of body fat 'und so weiter, und so weiter'. They also argue that, as the heart is an muscle, you will loose heartmuscle tissue when running a marathon, like with argument #2 for the legmuscles. There they might be wrong as well. Running a marathon you use your legs at the maximum of their capabilities on endurence because your legs are not programmed to go on and on with moving. Your heart muscle however is programmed for endurance and for somepeople this endurance might last for over an century. During the marathon you only boost it to, lets say, 60% of your HRmax...Okay if you are not well trained or have a defect there is a risk.

Well why bother; It is a matter of taste which sport you like and I like running. It makes me feel good, going out in sun, rain, wind, heath or cold. Experience the outdoor building my resistance, feeling nature and exploring places. These experiences are hard to gain in a gym. I just keep on running.

Seen on TV: The Truth about Food

Yesterday the Belgian television showed a BBC documentry: 'The Truth About Food' (see BBC site). Yesterdays episode had the subtitle 'How to be the Best' (site from this episode). This episode had some nice topics for runners.
The diea from the programm is to anwser questions about food by doing some experiments. The next questions were interesting for runners:
Grazing Vs Bingeing? (see clip)
Is there a way to eat your food so you can perform better? Could eating little and often be better than having three square meals?
Eating little and often makes you more productive because a square meal drwas your blood towards your stomic and bowels leaving you with less energy for your work. Everybody know the famous lunchdip;-)
Carb Power? (see clip)
Two genetically identical teams battle it out to see what’s better for long endurance activities – a diet high in carbohydrates or a diet packed full of protein and fat. Runners knwo the answer: a diet high in carbohydrates.
Is just tasting carbohydrates enough?
A strange question but the answer is yes. Apparently you have receptors on you tongue that makes you releasing energy by just tasing carbohydrates. This part of the documentry is not available online:-(
Meat to Beat? (see clip)
The filmmakers convinced six staunch vegetarians to embrace the carnivore way for eight weeks to test whether they would become stronger athletes by eating meat. Did it work? Fortunate for the vegatarians amonst us: No there was statsically relevant improvement in their strength. SO you can keep combining your healthy running with the healthy vegetarian way of life.

Other episodes in the series are a.. 'how to be healthy' and 'how to be sexy'. The first one can be relavant for runners. The second....well with our athletic bodies we don't need advice on that front;-)

Reducing risk of breast cancer

On a Dutch blog I found a referal to research done by professor Tony Howell. Googling a bit gives your various articles on this topic which al state the healthy effect of exercise. For example this one also stating the healthy effect of going outdoors. Hmmm, this is something runners combine (if your not runnig on a belt in a sportscentre).

Why is running (and other ecercises) healthy? Of course it helps you to keep you weight in control. And reducing weight is top of the list. Furthermore it has a lowering effect on both the levels of estrogen and insuline which reduces the risks on breast cancer.

Cerials versus sportdrink for recovery

On the Belgian site gezondheid.be you can find an article on the effect of cerails with milk on recovery after an excercise in cmoparison to the effect of sportdrinks. I don't know about you but in the Netherland we make jokes about the Belgian but as this article is on some amrican research...well judge for yourself.

In is some small scale research that has shown the following effects:

• The effect on the levels of glucose and insuline in the blood and on glycogen were simular
• The cerials resulted in a stronger dercrease in lactate, a better synthesis of proteins and a higher glycogen level in the muscles.

So you see that a simple bolw of cerials is better thant the chemical mixtures from a sportsdrink. I have to admit. this sportdrinks is easier to carry along in your sportsbag to use directly after you have done your excercises or your run.

Stretching: how to be done?

Last week during the marathon I looked in surprise at a man leaning into a lamp post almost horizontaly stretching his calfmuscle. Hand at about a meter height and heel from the ground. This urges me to write once more about stretching. This time stretching in general.
Is stretching usefull?
exploring the web you'll find that there is some debate on the usefulness of stretching. Almost every runners does it in the belief that it helps to lengthen the muscles en increases its resistance to injuries. It also decreases muscle pain after excersises when stretching is applied during the cooling down.
The purpose of stretching
By stretching the muscle you lengthen it and put tension on the fibers. After the stretching the muscle relaxes and is in a more relaxed mode than before.
During the cooling down stretching keeps the bloodflow going, helping to get rid off the waste products in the muscle (hence the reduction of musclepain afterwards). I also thinks that the relaxation of the muscle has a good healthy effect on the tendon reducing the risk of injuries but i could not find proof of tihs quickly.
Static versus dynamic
there are different ways of stretching:

• Static
• Dynamic
• Ballistic
• PNF

Best knwon are static and dynamic. The second was out of fashion after the appearance of the book 'The Stretching Methode' by Bob Anderson.

Sequence of stretching
I never gave much thought to the sequeance in which I did my stretching untill recently someone pointed out that stretching the muscles in the upper leg first stimulates the blood flow so that when stretching the muscles in the lower leg the waste products from these muscles are better transported. Makes sence, doesn´t it?

When to stretch?
Most runners do a warming up first and then stretch before starting with some serious excercises. Taking into account the point made above you realize you should not stretch to fanatical before starting you excersises otherwise your muscles will be completely relaxed.

Other good moments for stretching are, under the assumption that it is healthy, after your excercise, during your cooling down or when you have muscle cramps.

Now let us return to the runner and his lamppost. Taking everything into account you realize stretching has no use when you put strain/force on the muscle because it won't relaxe. I don't know about you but I cannot lean into a lamppost and lift my heal from the floor without straining my calf muscle. So his pose was not effective and he still had to do another 15k.

In spite of all the fact that the debate about the use of stretching has not settled I myself find it useful. I think that on 50% of the runs I do, I do stretch it after some warming up and on 90% of the runs I stretch afterwards. (I skip when I am in a hurry).
Before I was not albe to reach my toes as the lady does in the picture...now I can. So to me it helps. And in the book on running from Haile G. he spends a few pages on stretching and it helped him to run the worldrecord so who am I to argue with him.

Sleep as part of your training

Rightly so about running asks the question if runners look at their sleeping habits.A good nights rest is as important for your fitness as is a training. That is why they refer to this site with 10 tips for a good sleep. The ten tips are:

1. Light exersises: yoga or walking helps to lower stress levels. With me runnig works as well even relatively short before going to sleep I can run but I nkow this will not be the case for everyone For some sport in the evening can be killing to get to sleep (see point 10)


2. Listening to music: Of course this should be the relaxing kind


3. Cleaning up: It might sound crazy but this appears to be working but I think I skip this one


4. Games instead of TV: Think of stress relieving memory games. Train your brain in the same time


5. A bubble bath


6. A massage: Lets hope your partner has the skills and can pay some extra attention to the muscles important to a runner


7. Write in your journal: Empty your head by writing down thought or experiences. The blog is of course the modern journal


8. Meditation: It relaxes, lower stress levels. I have it sometimes during running that it works like meditation. Repeating thoughts like a mantra or having a completely empty mind. Running is meditation to me.


9. Sex: I the order of the tips is saying something about the effectiveness I think this one should be on number one. Everyone knows it helps against stress. You relax while doing your exercises from tip 1. Your body releases soothing hormones and it is healthy for your relationship as well...realy shouldn't it be on 1?


10. Avoid arguments or stressful situations or stimulating activities. This can also be a TV show or film. Sport can also be stimulating (see also my remark about running at 1.) For me it was the case with volleybal.

I hope these tips might help to sleep better and improve your performance as a runner. Beauty of itis: some of the tips are useful for runners in the same time.

Drug use in running

Even people who are not interested in the Tour de France will not have missed the commotion the last few days. All this commotion centred around drug use or suspected misconduct from the leader wearing the yellow jersey. Lying about your whereabouts before the tour can get you fired as shown by the decision from the Rabobank crew firing Rasmussen who otherwise would have finished as the winner of the tour in Paris next Sunday.
This made me think: is there any drug use in long distance running? Of course drug use in athletics is a well known phenomena with one of the most well known cases that of Ben Johnson or the suspected use of Flo Jo although with her no proof was ever found.
I never heard of marathon runners that were caught using drugs. It might be the case that drug use is often used for either gaining strength or a fast recovery. The strength necessary for running a marathon can easily be gained by normal training and a fast recovery is not as crucial as with cycling were they have to be on the bike day after day for a few weeks in a row as in the Tour.
Another aspect might be the financial part: Of course the world class runner earn nice money but the figures have less digits than in Cycling or for example soccer. Think of the death of Miklos Feher (check out YouTube for the impressive images of his death) were there is some suspicion on the use of profen like drugs for fast recovery to enable player to cope with the full schedule with the large number of matches.
Maybe when less money is involved and it is more about the honour athletes tend to be more careful for their health.