A Descriptive Study of Pain Relief Practices Among Student-Athletes in Palestine: Focus on Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammato
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ORIGINAL PAPER
A Descriptive Study of Pain Relief Practices Among Student‑Athletes in Palestine: Focus on Non‑Steroidal Anti‑Inflammatory Drugs, and Complementary Medicine and Alternative Medicine Use Hala Qasrawi1 · Siham Assi1 · Nesma Ghanim1 · Sa’ed H. Zyoud2,3,4 · Samah W. Al‑Jabi3 Accepted: 10 October 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Many athletes suffering from musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction will use some types of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) or Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence, awareness, and behaviors related to NSAIDs and CAM use in Palestinian student-athletes. This was a cross-sectional study that involved 227 students from the Faculty of Sports at An-Najah National University. A self-administered questionnaire was designed in Arabic; it had six sections and a number of open-ended and closed-ended questions. SPSS version 21 was used to analyze the results. Descriptive statistics (i.e., frequencies, percentages) were used to describe the results including demographic characteristics. Overall, 79.3% of the student-athletes had used NSAIDs in the past and 89.0% had used CAM. The CAM methods used by participants were: herbals (57.3%), supplements (32.2%), cupping (11.9%), acupuncture (2.2%), massage (51.5%), yoga (4.0%), praying (18.1%) and ice packs (20.7%). The herbs commonly used by participants were: sage (20.7%), Menthol (21.1%), Aniseed (10.6%), Chamomile (4.0%), Cinnamon (1.3%), Turmeric (4.0%), Ginger (35.7%), and a mixture of herbs (18.5%); Regarding the perceived advantages of CAM use, 82.2% thought that CAM is beneficial for their health, 79.7% thought CAM is safe, 71.3% used it because of the successful experience of others, and 60.9% used it because it’s more available than medical therapy. Among NSAIDs users, 17.2% reported recent use of over-the-counter (OTC) NSAIDs, and 33.9% of users used prescribed NSAIDs within the last three months for sport-related reasons. When asked to report any side-effect of NSAIDs they knew, only 22.6% were able to list at least one side-effect. This study shows a high prevalence of NSAIDs and CAM use among student-athletes in Palestine with a low level of knowledge and awareness of their side-effects. Therefore, education strategies that focus on enhancing and improving student-athletes’ knowledge of the proper use and the possible side-effects of NSAIDs and CAM are needed. Keywords Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs · Complementary and alternative medicine · Athletes · Students · Palestine
Introduction Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), have been widely prescribed or used as over-the-counter drugs (OTC) for pain relief by the general population [1]. Their use by athletes in various types of sports has been widely investigated [2–10]. Some research even suggests that as much as 12–36% of athletes use NSAIDs [2, 9, 11–14].
* Samah W. Al‑Jabi [email protected]; [email protected] Extended author inform
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