Performance Enhancers and Placebos
The Placebo Effect Can Improve Athletic Performance
A recent study revealed that the placebo effect can be as effective as an illegal drug with respect to improving performance.
The pituitary gland produces growth hormone, which affects growth and metabolism. Growth hormone increases muscle mass and decreases fat. Until about the age of thirty five, intense exercise increases the amount of growth hormone produced, but the production of growth hormone decreases precipitously with age, even for those who exercise intensely. However, synthetic growth hormone has been available with a prescription for a number of years and recently, it was discovered that some baseball players received prescriptions for growth hormone.
The Placebo Effect
The placebo effect is a phenomenon in which an individual is given an inert substance or the suggestion that a substance or process will produce a specific result. A person takes an inert substance (a "sugar pill") in conjunction with the suggestion from an authority figure that the pill will help achieve a goal. A fascinating use of the placebo effect was described in November 2007.
Four Teams of Ten Individuals Compete
A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience pitted four teams of ten athletes against each other in a test of pain endurance. Each individual had a tourniquet wrapped around his forearm and was required to squeeze a hand spring exerciser repeatedly until he was forced to stop by pain. The time before stopping was recorded for each participant and team averages were calculated. The experimental variable was the use of the painkiller morphine, which is legal when prescribed by a physician. Morphine is allowed by the World Anti Doping Agency during training but not during competition.
The Experimental Design
“Team A” received a morphine injection just before training sessions held two weeks and one week before the competition. On the day of the competition, “Team A” members were injected with a placebo, which was a SALINE solution, although it was suggested that they were really getting morphine.
“Team B” followed the same procedures with respect to the morphine and saline solution, but the saline solution injected the day of the competition also contained the opiate blocking compound naloxone.
“Team C” received only the saline solution on the day of the competition while “Team D” received no treatment.
“Team A," the athletes who received morphine followed by the placebo saline solution, endured significantly more pain than any of the other teams. “Team B,” which received the naloxone, did no better than the two control groups. These findings may have interesting ramifications for baseball.
Use of a Placebo Instead of a Banned Substance
Synthetic growth hormone is a banned substance. Many baseball players have allegedly used it illegally. Enter the placebo effect. A baseball player is told by an authority figure – his agent, his wife, his physician, his general manager – that his performance must improve. The authority figure recommends the use of growth hormone, which could be administered orally or injected, but since taking growth hormone orally is ineffective, it will be injected. Only it isn’t growth hormone that is being injected. It is a placebo.
How Can the Game Be Protected?
The placebo effect may work. The player’s performance may improve, perhaps significantly. If there were a chemical test for growth hormone levels, the results would show normal levels. The player believed he was being helped by growth hormone, but that is not true. It was the placebo effect. What do those who protect the game do? What a great situation.
