After podium, a life of pain can await athletes

OLYMPIC fever has infected the world, but what happens when star athletes step down from the podium?

New research has found that, in some instances, those who develop osteoarthritis hit the bottle.

The study – which involved surveying 624 former elite athletes, including South Africans – found that the disease was associated with common mental disorder symptoms among sporting stars of yesteryear.

Mike Lambert, of the University of Cape Town, was an academic involved in the study – led by Nanet Schuring, of the Academic Centre for Evidence Based Sports Medicine, in the Netherlands. Osteoarthritis is an agonising disease affecting mostly cartilage and the study highlighted that it is the 10th leading cause of disability in high-income countries.

“The most important finding is the significant association between osteoarthritis and symptoms of distress, sleep disturbances, adverse alcohol use and co-morbidity of common mental disorders among former elite athletes,” the research document said.

It concluded that monitoring the disease among former athletes should be increased.

Sport scientist Professor Tim Noakes said: “Osteoarthritis is more prevalent than we recognise, especially of the knee in contact sports and hips in endurance sports.”