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Self-harming to win a gold medal?

Aug 23 08:40

Of all the things we do to avoid one of the worst side-effects of a spinal cord injury, Autonomic Dysreflexia - checking our skin (and checking it twice), checking our bladder, bowels, checking the tightness of our clothes, making sure our toes are straight when we put on our shoes, why would anyone want to cause this nasty condition on purpose? Turns out, Paralympic athletes.

It’s called “boosting” and it’s a bizarre trend that continues, even though it’s been banned. By actually making oneself dysreflexic (despite all the nasty side-effects that it comes with, including a pounding headache, profuse sweating, feeling like you’re “reeling” ug ug ug) there’s actually a bonus to the condition: It can make you play better. And by “play better,” meaning you get stronger, faster and even have more endurance, all by becoming dysreflexic. Don’t get it? I don’t either.

It’s confusing how boosting enhances performance that much, but studies say it can help as much as 10%. Autonomic Dysreflexia in it’s most simplest explanation is an elevation of the body’s blood pressure, so by elevating our blood pressure, that gets our bodies to perform better? It feels better when our blood pressure is elevated, sure, but physically perform better?

Experts say it increases our heart rate, and because our heart rate increases, the amount of oxygen getting to our muscles increases, helping us perform better. But the dangers if you take it too far? You can stroke out.

Athletes have been known to shove needles into their testicles, overflow their bladders and (get ready for it) insert oversized catheters just to turn on AD during a game. Craziness. It’s a ton of work making sure our paralyzed parts are all safe and tidy. To do the opposite would not feel right to me.

The International Paralympic Committee banned boosting in 2004, but experts say about 30% of competitors with spinal cord injuries still do it (most are quad rugby players). And they definitely expect it to be prevalent in the upcoming London games.

Sad, sad, sad. The stupid things we do for glory.

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1. Justine | Aug 23 11:07

I am in disbelief about this. I want to be healthy, and am as competitive as the next person ( alright maybe more) but I think it's stupid to go that far. Everything has a price and death just isn't worth it. You'd think people who are more aware of their bodies and keeping an eye on things~ and knowing exactly how to avoid " going too far" would make it a point to do just that. As wheelchair users, we take better care of ourselves than most ab's since we are so much more in tune with what's good for us vs what's not. It makes no sense to compromise all that for a medal.

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By Tiffiny Carlson

Tiffiny Carlson Disability buzz, travel, fashion and dating — fun things to amp up everyday wheeling life.

Tiffiny Carlson is freelance writer and writes the “SCI Life” column for New Mobility. She's also a C6 quad from a diving accident that occurred when she was 14 years old. A lifelong resident of Minneapolis, Tiffiny has been a writer in the disability community for over 10 years and writes for several publications and blogs, as well as her personal blog BeautyAbility. Her work has also appeared in mainstream publications such as Nerve.com and Playgirl.