Having a couple of drinks with your friends after a playing sports seems like a good way to relax, but often a few drinks usually lead to a few more, which can put you at risk for suffering a sports injury.
Here are some reasons why it could be dangerous to mix sports and alcohol:
Athletic Performance:
Drinking a couple of days a month is probably not going to have much of an effect on your strength and muscle growth, but it does definitely have a noticeable effect on your athletic performance. If you binge drink (for example 10 beers over a weekend) that is going to dehydrate you for a couple of days, your training is not going to be optimal, your timing will be off, increasing risk of injury in the sporting arena.
Athletic Injury:
When you do get injured, having a couple of drinks after the game can increase the swelling and bleeding into the injured tissues because alcohol causes thinning of blood. So, an injury that you should be able to recover from within a week may now take 3-4 weeks.
Alcohol can also mask the pain from an injury, which means you may delay or avoid seeking treatment for an injury which should otherwise have been evaluated and treated.
If you are a serious athlete and want to genuinely improve your skill at football, basketball, or whatever your sport is, then you should minimize alcohol to no more than 4 beers or a bottle of wine a month.
Dr. Frisch is a specialist orthopedic surgeon focusing on minimally invasive hip and knee joint replacement as well as regenerative treatments for enhanced healing. He believes in creating a very personalized experience with the highest level of service. For all appointments & inquiries, please contact our offices located in Rochester and River District, MI.
