Rehabilitation care in the Netherlands is not currently utilizing all of its resources to optimize the physical capabilities of patients with natural strengths. That is the opinion of Dr. Olaf Verschuren, physical health researcher, and Casper van Koppenhagen, rehabilitation physician and sports doctor. They wrote this opinion piece about it.
Rehabilitation center Reade is going to treat (link in Dutch) (partially) paralyzed patients with spinal cord injury with anabolic steroid (link in Dutch), a treatment that seems promising. However, sleep and nutrition deserve more attention in health care for patients in rehabilitation care before switching to doping.
Advancing plans
We share the view that physicians should consider the use of doping-drugged agents in rehabilitation and recovery processes of acute and chronic conditions. Doping drugs are quickly associated with prohibited substances. They are prohibited substances in sport (a rule of the game), but they are often not prohibited substances in perspective of Dutch law. Therefore, the use of anabolic steroids in (rehabilitation) care is certainly something that should be scientifically investigated. Reade rehabilitation center’s plans in this area are therefore progressive.
More attention to recovery period
We believe that rehabilitation care is not currently deploying all possibilities to optimize a patient’s physical capabilities without doping drugs. Within rehabilitation, there is an increasing focus on physical activity and muscle strength training. The body of the rehabilitant, as in elite sports, is frequently stimulated to achieve performance improvement. A fact, however, is that no one has ever become stronger or fitter during training. It is precisely in the period after training (the recovery period) that the body reaches a higher level of performance. A top athlete and his coaches know this, and therefore pay much attention to the recovery period. Within rehabilitation care, the period between training sessions is not well utilized. This can, and must be improved!
Nutrition, training and sleep
Sleep and nutrition are the natural forces that keep the body healthy. In fact, the primary function of sleep is recovery. During deep sleep, a lot of growth hormone is released. In addition, during deep sleep, physical repair work takes place, such as wound healing, neuronal repair, bone growth, and thus muscle repair. Nutrition, with proper nutrients and timing of intake, also has positive effects on recovery. Muscles need building materials (protein) to recover from physical training. Optimal recovery can only be achieved primarily through structural good sleep and matching nutrition, both for athletes but certainly also for patients.
Natural gain
Living with a disability or being (chronically) ill is, in a sense, top sport. Athletes, the sick and the elderly all benefit from a good interplay of the three pillars of health: physical activity, sleep and nutrition. Physicians should therefore pay optimal attention to this triad first in the care process at all times to ensure optimal physical functioning. Here lies a quick and natural gain. If this proves insufficient, physicians may consider the use of doping-controlled drugs in rehabilitation and recovery processes of acute and chronic conditions.