Sports medicine

New certificate from the International Olympic Committee for sports pharmacists

Healthcare professionals are frequently consulted by athletes on drug use, from both clinical and anti-doping perspectives. The World Anti-Doping Agency Code, which is currently under review, recognises the importance of healthcare professionals in helping athletes to make informed choices rel…

Trying hard: how I tackle my career as a professional rugby player and working as a pharmacist

As a professional rugby player and pharmacist, Ross Wardle fields questions from his colleagues about doping and is concerned about long-term health problems associated with the sport.…

Advising patients on prevention and management of sporting injuries in the pharmacy

How to identify common sporting injuries and provide specific advice to patients on their effective management, including the role of over-the-counter pharmacological treatments, as well as when to refer for specialist assessment and treatment.…

Meldonium, the drug that shook tennis and the sporting world

Meldonium has sent shockwaves through the tennis world and beyond after tennis player Maria Sharapova hit the headlines after testing positive for the recently banned substance at the 2016 Australian Open. Sold under the brand name Mildronate, meldonium is an anti-ischaemic drug deve…

Meldonium use widespread among elite athletes

Research finds 43 of the 66 athletes who tested positive for meldonium during 2015 European Games in Azerbaijan did not declare it.…

My role as a pharmacist at the Rio 2016 Olympics

Finding out an athlete has been cheating by taking banned substances is the hardest part of being a pharmacist at the Olympic Games, says Mark Stuart.…

Learn about doping in sports

‘Drugs in sport’, edited by David R Mottram and Neil Chester.…

Promoting drug-free sport as a doping control officer

Pharmacist Carole Hunter, a doping control officer at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July 2014, explains her part in trying to rid sport of performance-enhancing drugs.…

Doing the Olympic curling circuit the pharmacist way: Claire Hamilton

Elizabeth Sukkar learns that Team GB’s curler Claire Hamilton likes to keep her team’s medical kit well stocked and that she was terrified on her first day as a pharmacist…

My role as a pharmacist is not that different from volleyball team captain!

Lynne Beattie is captain of the British women’s volleyball team at London 2012. Ayshe Ismail finds out more about her role and her pharmacybackground…