steroids = injuries?

[Daniel Clough]

I was thinking about this the other day...

If someone was to take steroids for the first time then they would see great strenght increases right? Well I know this from observing people that have done..

Anyway surely this greatly increases the risk of injury? I mean can your body handle the rate at which this strenght increases?

[Tadger]

The only increased risk of injury only comes with using the heavier weights. If someone is not terribly experienced in the weight room or gets sloppy because they get carried away because of the strength increase... that is when the risk of injury increases. The way the juice works is not necessarily by making you stronger... but by increasing the rate at which the body repairs tissue, accelerating and increasing protein synthesis and the stores of water, glycogen and the raw materials needed for muscle performance, repair and maintenance. Often times production of red blood cells is also increased so oxygen is more readily available to muscles and other tissues. With some drugs, the joint tissue stores more water leading to fewer joint pains. Because of the rate at which tissue repair occurs, those on the gear risk fewer injuries from the repeated stresses put on the body by body building and powerlifting and whatnot.

One thing that I have noticed is that when muscle mass increases so rapidly, unless using winstrol or something else that increases vascularity, the user may notice that their limbs may go numb more quickly when resting in awkward positions. The new muscle mass creates pressure on veins and bloodvessels and so a little pressure from sitting or laying in awkward positions can cut off blood flow alot easier. It may take the body a short while before new blood vessels are formed. This is naught but and annoyance and goes away pretty quickly. The same thing has been noted to happen with nerves... but this is usually only with dramatic increases in muscle mass in very short periods of time. This is another condition that goes away as the body becomes accustomed to the new muscle mass and tissue is restructured.

[gino]

Yeah, regardless if with drugs or not, the higher the weight used, the more chance of injury.

Imagine benching 95 lbs with poor form - probably nothing negative will result. Use that same form with 315 and you may have problems. So, anything that can result in strength gains can increase the chance of injuries. SO, saying that steroids = injuries could be like saying creatine = injuries, supplements = injuries, etc...

[montecristo412]

i know many who have joing problems due to being able to lift too much weight before their tendons and ligaments can catch up since AS only makes muscles stronger and not the tendons and ligaments.

[flake]

doesn't deca help the joints

[body]

flake - some steroids increase water reteniton cushioning the joints rather than making them stronger

[Tadger]

It is just a myth that people have problems with tendons and ligaments because of steroid use. The only thing you have to worry about is the fact that tendons and ligaments take several times longer to heal than muscle tissue does. Tendons will grow stronger along with the muscle as they are an integral part of the muscle itself. From everything I've read, the only evidence that steroids cause problems with muscle growing faster than tendons comes from one or two case studies... and case studies prove nothing. The subjects probably had preexisting problems that were compounded by the heavy weights they were using after steroid use.

One of my buddies had surgery on his knee. The doc put him on a short light cycle to accelerate recovery and help strengthen the tendons in his knee.. If you have a problem, then continued lifting will aggrivate the problem, and because working weights come up so quickly while on the gear, you're only putting more stress on an injury that is already taking a long time to heal.

Steroids will accelerate healing of tendons, but lifting in general makes them shorter and thicker = stronger. Flexibility and range of motion may lessen. That is why it is important to stretch properly before and after lifting. Muscles and tendons will shorten up quite quickly if you aren't careful.

Ligaments are where you'll run into a problem though. They are only there to bind bones together... there is no muscle attached to ligaments... and they repair extremely slowly if at all. With the use of steroids or not, ligaments can be damaged quite easily.

[the doc]

yes tadger is right here. Steroids, having a wide variety of indications or "uses", are often prescribed for various types of injuries. They greatly increase recovery and rebuilding of various tissues. Small doses are used.

Cetainly the danger from steroid use (in the short term) is indirect, as gino said, from the use of very heavy weights. I certainly think there is something to be said for genetic "limits" being there. How do these old weightlifters fare in their older ages?. I mean the ones that use gear and really pound heavy weight. Are their joints painful in their older age?

[IBLiftin]

I think the answer would be simple, for 3 weeks b4 your cycle get your body ready for heavy weights. Do a lot of negatives and low rep sets. Then as soon as you get on the sauce go back to normal 8-10 rep training. Hell, I used the pyramid everything, do 2-3 sets of 12-10-8 or so. Now while I'm on and bulking, I'll be something like 30-20-10. for my first excersize, and then 20-10-6 for the rest of them. Usually using a dropset of 6-6-6 for my last set of the muscle. I've had more gains playing with high reps in the last few months then I could have ever imagined. My legs look like someone elses now, lol.

But this workout may be only for someone who wants to be a bodybuilder and not lift jack *****. My strength has gone way down since I started higher reps in my workouts. I'v prolly lost 100 lbs on my bench from doing light weight, but I look a lot better, plus now I have no joint problems. I used to have bad knees, back, shoulders and elbows...

you can also try taking glucosamene(sp) it seems to help me out also...