Many athletes, typically those in longer ultra-endurance events, often take ibuprofen during the course of a race or long training session. But is this necessarily a good idea?
Ibuprofen interferes with the production of a hormone called prostaglandin, which functions partly to keep the vessels of the kidneys open to maintain adequate blood flow.
Add dehydration -- often encountered in a long race or training session, particularly in the heat -- to the mix, and the problem is compounded. Renal (kidney) failure becomes a real possibility. Who wants to have a dialysis machine for their next best friend?
Ibuprofen use may also blunt your recovery after racing or training. Research suggests that ibuprofen reduces protein synthesis, one of the ways the body repairs muscles.
Other research points to increased gastrointestinal permeability during endurance exercise concurrent with ibuprofen use. This may be one of the reasons that research among runners using ibuprofen at the Western States 100 ultramarathon suggests an increase in some inflammatory markers post-race.
In this study, there was little or no difference in reported muscle soreness between ibuprofen users and non-users.
Ibuprofen is an accepted choice for dealing with the aches and pains of daily life. But does it help during a race? Probably not, and it can hurt you if you take too much and become dehydrated. For races and hard training sessions, the risks seem to outweigh the questionable benefits.