JOINT JABS WARNING

Retired players suffering because of painkillers, says expert

ONE of Australia’s leading joint experts has warned a culture of painkilling injections has created a generation of retired players who live in permanent pain.

University of Sydney professor of medicine David Hunter said AFL players who were given repeated injections needed to understand the lifetime consequences.

Medical experts now believe even the anaesthetic itself can damage and undermine joints as well as dulling pain, while a player does greater damage when playing with injury.

The world’s leading expert on osteoarthritis, Hunter has treated countless players who needed knee replacements and suffered arthritis as a result of playing at any costs.

Hunter said he was concerned about any player who had more than one injection into a joint such as a knee, ankle or AC joint.

“I wouldn’t advocate it for players so they can run out on the field even one more time,” he said. “To me, I don’t think that’s worth it. You see footballers walking around in their late 30s and early 40s who limp as a consequence of decisions they made when they were in their 20s.

“My general advice is maybe a one-off in a joint that is otherwise stable and structurally intact, but if you are having repeat injections done every week to get on the field I would strongly advise that is not sensible for a person’s long-term health. If you are getting any joint injected re- peatedly you put it at risk of long-term structural damage.”

AFL legal boss Andrew Dillon said this week the number of painkilling injections per club was tightly monitored by the league’s integrity department. The use of every pain relief tablet and painkilling injection must be logged by the player and club, using a controlled substances phone app.

AFL sports physician Peter Larkins said he was uneasy about the use of some painkillers by club doctors. He said there was unrivalled pressure to get players back on the field given a cap on rotations.

“By and large, there are a crop of doctors out there who are really very good at making these decisions,” he said.

“But there are still clubs who have got less experienced guys who are under pressure and they are new on the AFL landscape. And those guys are still finding their feet a little with the pressure of match day and the heat of a game with what they should or shouldn’t do to get their players back on the ground.”