Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory
Drugs (NSAIDs) are used by athletes all around the year to reduce incidents of inflammation,
joint pain, injuries etc. The commonly used NSAIDs are either applied on the
skin or ingested as tablets and in India there is a prevalence of Diclofenac
based NSAIDs, especially in the form of a cream/gel/spray. A common household Diclofenac based NSAID for athletes in India is Volini.
Diclofenac based NSAIDs have
significant side effects on the kidney, heart and liver amongst other organs.
Remember the vulture death crisis in India a few years ago? These large scale
deaths of vultures were attributed to the veterinary use of Diclofenac in the cattle which had been consumed by the vultures.
As compared to short term, the long
term use of Diclofenac based medicines poses a greater risk, especially
cardiovascular issues. You can read a non-technical but rather informative
article on this by clicking the link below:
An alternative to NSAIDs for an athlete is
Castor Oil. Castor Oil is a vegetable oil which is obtained by pressing the
seeds of the Castor Oil Plant (Ricinus Communis).
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| Castor Oil Plant |
I’ve started applying it
topically (i.e. on the skin where the pain exists) and it has provided
significant relief to my knees, achilles and shin, all of which had started
hurting a bit after an increase in running and cycling intensity. As compared
to NSAIDs, I am less concerned about Castor Oil’s long term use and also its
side effects since no study seems to suggest any major health risk from a short
or long term use. It’s just a quick oil massage on the affected area.
Castor Oil contains Ricinoleic
Acid (RA) and RA was shown to be extremely effective in reducing inflammation and
pain when applied topically (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1781768/).
In fact our ayurvedic medicine considers Castor Oil as one of the best medicines
for curing arthritis.
You can buy a bottle of castor
oil for less than Rs. 100 at your local pharmacy and massage it a couple of
times a day on the affected area just like you would use a NSAIDs cream/gel/spray.
- Aman Yadav
