Acetaminophen effect on reaction speed and lower limbs power

Abstract

Background:Acetaminophen (also known as Tylenol or Paracetamol) is a very popular drug, that requires no prescription and is usually used as analgesic and antipyretic. A considerable number of previous studies show that acetaminophen has no effects that could alter exercise capacity or performance. Onthe other hand, there are studies sustaining that exercise performance can be improved with acetaminophen through a reduction in perceived pain, and also a reduction of the body heat produced by the muscle contraction.Purpose:The aim of our study was to check if acetaminophen influences reaction speed and power of the lower limbs muscles. Participants and method:For this study we recruited twenty-nine males, aged between 19 and 28 years old. We had two testing sessions for each participant, in the same day (the baseline evaluation, and the second evaluation at half an hour after acetaminophen ingestion).The evaluationsequence was: Body composition evaluation, acoustic-visual reaction test for one leg (left and right), Squad jump on one leg (5 jumps on each foot) and Stiffness test (7 jumps

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“…Its effects, which are likely to impact sporting performance, especially by suppressing the perceived pain, mean that the results from numerous studies evaluating these effects are followed with great interest by the entire sports community. Some studies have demonstrated its favourable impact on performance (Park et al, 2016, Strava & Rusu, 2015, while others have not confirmed such an effect (Delextrat et al, 2015, Mauger et al, 2010. At the same time, it should be remembered that if the studies show improvement of sport performance (Park et al, 2016, Strava & Rusu, 2015, they involve a quantity with adverse effect on the athlete's health (Hodis, 2015, Blieden et al, 2014.…”

“…Some studies have demonstrated its favourable impact on performance (Park et al, 2016, Strava & Rusu, 2015, while others have not confirmed such an effect (Delextrat et al, 2015, Mauger et al, 2010. At the same time, it should be remembered that if the studies show improvement of sport performance (Park et al, 2016, Strava & Rusu, 2015, they involve a quantity with adverse effect on the athlete's health (Hodis, 2015, Blieden et al, 2014. This is why we decided to evaluate the effect of the "medically still acceptable dose" of paracetamol, reinforcing its analgesic effect by adding ASA.…”

“…For instance, Park et al (2016) confirms the reduction of the perceived sense of pain during load implementation by 8-15%. Foster et al (2014) demonstrated that paracetamol may have improved performance through the reduction of pain for a given work rate, and another study also shows a significant increase in the observed values of maximum performance (Strava & Rusu, 2015). Some studies, however, have not found any significant differences in the evaluated peak power output or perceived pain (Delextrat et al, 2015, Mauger et al, 2010.…”