Reuters: Sports News: Paralympics: Harmful "boosting" casts shadow before Games

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Paralympics: Harmful "boosting" casts shadow before Games Aug 24th 2012, 19:21 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Performance enhancing dope: Should sport ban cannabis? Mon, Aug 6 2012 Analysis & Opinion Gold, silver and bronze Medal-less Lolo Jones has nothing to be ashamed of Construction workers are seen at the Riverbank Stadium in the Olympic Park in Stratford, east London, August 14, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Paul Hackett By Mark Meadows LONDON | Fri Aug 24, 2012 2:42pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - The Paralympics begin in London next week and despite the euphoria from the Olympics, the buildup to the disabled Games has been blighted by tales of deliberate "performance enhancing" injuries. The practice of "boosting", where wheelchair-bound athletes hurt themselves to increase blood pressure and endurance, is banned by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) but is surprisingly common. A survey of athletes at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics showed around 17 percent had used boosting. Able-bodied athletes naturally increase blood pressure through certain exercise and can therefore push themselves harder but those with spinal injuries cannot do so easily. One way of increasing blood pressure is to injure yourself with common ways of boosting including breaking toes, letting your bladder overfill, sitting on sharp objects, wearing overly tight leg wear or even trapping the scrotum. British media outlets have suddenly cottoned on to the practice with widespread reports this week but the IPC and London organizers LOCOG will try to root out any cheats. "There is testing (for boosting). Our medical team work with the IPC over testing," a LOCOG spokeswoman said. Checks for boosting, which is considered dangerous by doctors as it can induce strokes or intracranial hemorrhage and death, include blood pressure tests and monitoring for tell-tale signs such as skin blotches. However, doctors in the Beijing survey acknowledged that "it is possible that some athletes could have induced boosting during the competition and circumvented the initial screening process. This is difficult to monitor and poses a real challenge to the procedures for monitoring boosting in these athletes". Boosting, known medically as the intentional induction of autonomic dysreflexia, has been compared to doping in Paralympic circles. "ParalympicsGB have included education about (boosting) for all our athletes and we do not perceive this to be an issue with any British athletes," the British Paralympics Association told Reuters. The Paralympics in London run from Wednesday to Sept 9. (Editing by Tony Jimenez) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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