“Injections of anesthetics do not improve performance or harm health,” recalls the director-general of the World Anti-Doping Agency
The World Anti-Doping Agency (AMA) and the Spanish Association of Sports Medicine (Semed) came out this Thursday to defend Rafa Nadal after the attacks the Balearic tennis player is receiving from French cycling because he resorted to infiltrations to relieve pain in his left foot during the recent edition of Roland Garros. “Anesthetic injections are not on the list of banned products, as they are not estimated to improve sports performance and are not harmful to health,” recalls AMA director general Olivier Niggli.
According to the WADA leader, the debate about sport infiltrations should not be on doping, but on that of medical ethics, “since one might question whether it is acceptable for a top athlete to have injections before a competition ” . “Nadal has won 14 titles at Roland Garros, and if the previous 13 were won without the need for those injections, the 14th is probably not thanks to them,” the AMA director general said during an interview for Swiss television. RTS.
For its part, the Spanish Association of Sports Medicine has published a statement in which it wants to clarify that “infiltration is not doping”. “Anesthetic infiltrations are therapeutic procedures of wide and ancient use, both in sports and in the workplace and in many others,” underlines this entity in a 12-point note to disprove theories that question Nadal’s cleanliness. .
“An infiltration is not a doping method unless a prohibited substance is administered in that injection,” recalled Semed, acknowledging that “associating with concepts of infiltration and doping is incorrect and may be intended to cast doubt on the legality of the results.” of some athletes.” If a person has evidence or indication that an athlete is taking doping, he must report the matter to the appropriate authority such as the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Athlete’s International Sports Federation or the National Anti-Doping Agency of the athlete,” claims the governing body of this entity.
«This Association welcomes the interest of certain cyclists, especially Frenchmen, in the prevention of doping and strongly encourages them to continue their efforts to reduce the percentage of adverse analytical findings (formerly called doping positives), but to provide truthful, correct and clear information adapted to the anti-doping regulations in force at the international level and without doubt casts doubt on athletes who scrupulously observe them and may appear malicious,” concludes de Semed in his final point. This entity also recalls that “infiltrations into cycling are not prohibited by the International Cycling Union, as stated by an athlete of French nationality.”
De Semed adds that “although infiltrations should not be used arbitrarily, it is perfectly permissible to use them in the context of a match of great importance, delaying final treatment of the injury for some time after that match” and that “the indications of infiltrations are well defined in medicine and their fundamental purpose is to reduce localized pain in an anatomical area».
Source: La Verdad
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