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A Descriptive Study of Pain Relief Practices Among Student-Athletes in Palestine: Focus on Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, and Complementary Medicine and Alternative Medicine Use

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Abstract

Many athletes suffering from musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction will use some types of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) or Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence, awareness, and behaviors related to NSAIDs and CAM use in Palestinian student-athletes. This was a cross-sectional study that involved 227 students from the Faculty of Sports at An-Najah National University. A self-administered questionnaire was designed in Arabic; it had six sections and a number of open-ended and closed-ended questions. SPSS version 21 was used to analyze the results. Descriptive statistics (i.e., frequencies, percentages) were used to describe the results including demographic characteristics. Overall, 79.3% of the student-athletes had used NSAIDs in the past and 89.0% had used CAM. The CAM methods used by participants were: herbals (57.3%), supplements (32.2%), cupping (11.9%), acupuncture (2.2%), massage (51.5%), yoga (4.0%), praying (18.1%) and ice packs (20.7%). The herbs commonly used by participants were: sage (20.7%), Menthol (21.1%), Aniseed (10.6%), Chamomile (4.0%), Cinnamon (1.3%), Turmeric (4.0%), Ginger (35.7%), and a mixture of herbs (18.5%); Regarding the perceived advantages of CAM use, 82.2% thought that CAM is beneficial for their health, 79.7% thought CAM is safe, 71.3% used it because of the successful experience of others, and 60.9% used it because it’s more available than medical therapy. Among NSAIDs users, 17.2% reported recent use of over-the-counter (OTC) NSAIDs, and 33.9% of users used prescribed NSAIDs within the last three months for sport-related reasons. When asked to report any side-effect of NSAIDs they knew, only 22.6% were able to list at least one side-effect. This study shows a high prevalence of NSAIDs and CAM use among student-athletes in Palestine with a low level of knowledge and awareness of their side-effects. Therefore, education strategies that focus on enhancing and improving student-athletes’ knowledge of the proper use and the possible side-effects of NSAIDs and CAM are needed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank retired British Library curator Andy Simons for the English editing of the manuscript. Also, the authors would like to thank students who participated in the survey.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839, Palestine

    Hala Qasrawi, Siham Assi & Nesma Ghanim

  2. Poison Control and Drug Information Center (PCDIC), College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839, Palestine

    Sa’ed H. Zyoud

  3. Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839, Palestine

    Sa’ed H. Zyoud & Samah W. Al-Jabi

  4. Clinical Research Centre, An-Najah National University Hospital, Nablus, 44839, Palestine

    Sa’ed H. Zyoud

Authors
  1. Hala Qasrawi
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  2. Siham Assi
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  4. Sa’ed H. Zyoud
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  5. Samah W. Al-Jabi
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Contributions

HQ, SA and NG collected data, contributed to the study design, conducted the literature search, assisted with data analysis, and helped write the manuscript. SA and SZ conceptualised the study; designed the study, supervised the survey team and data analysis, critically reviewed the manuscript, and interpreted the results. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Samah W. Al-Jabi.

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Qasrawi, H., Assi, S., Ghanim, N. et al. A Descriptive Study of Pain Relief Practices Among Student-Athletes in Palestine: Focus on Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, and Complementary Medicine and Alternative Medicine Use. J Community Health 46, 684–692 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-020-00935-4

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