Deep Dive: The use of painkillers and drugs in rugby

Rugby Coach Weekly

Alan Dymock is Features Editor of Rugby World Magazine. He specialises in long-reads and detailed studies, as well as stories of far-flung events and quirky characters.
In this Deep Dive, we discuss Alan's features on pain killer and performance-enhancing drug use in rugby.

• Alan's playing background & how he transitioned to journalism
• Why Alan decided to investigate doping
• Did Alan have any apprehension about investigating such a thorny issue?
• Where did the investigation start?
• Why do players take banned substances?
• Pain killer use and the slippery slope of their use
• The advances in medical science that have occurred around pain & how we should be looking to the long term and psychological interventions Issues around Therapeutic Use Exemptions
• Is there a genuine appetite to catch drug cheats?
• How we should be looking to prevent use rather than catching cheats
• Why we need to constantly re-visit the discussion around doping
• How widespread is doping in rugby?

The features we discuss can be found here:
Doping in rugby: a Rugby World investigation - https://www.rugbyworld.com/countries/france-countries/doping-rugby-41475
Playing through the pain: an investigation into painkiller use in rugby - https://www.rugbyworld.com/news/blogs/playing-pain-investigation-painkiller-use-rugby-77805
Chronic Pain, Cannabis & Rugbyhttps://www.rugbyworld.com/featured/chronic-pain-cannabis-rugby-113821
All of Alan's investigations can be found here -https://www.rugbyworld.com/tag/investigation
Informed Sport Supplement Check Service - https://www.wetestyoutrust.com/
England Rugby Anti Doping & Illicit Drugs - https://www.englandrugby.com/governance/anti-doping-and-illicit-drugs
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