Out of the 3,693 letters sent for a recent survey of retired NFL players, 2,552 responded openly and about 20.3% of them admitted to have used steroids at one point in their careers. The survey was sent out to members of the NFL Retired Players Association and those who participated played during the 1980’s, when drug testing was still not done. From the survey, the majority of steroid users were offensive linemen or defensive linemen. These two groups also registered with having the highest number of injuries on several joints mainly involving the ligaments and cartilages.

From CBC Sports:

The injury patterns suggest that joint ligaments and cartilage, rather than tendons, might not adapt to muscle changes brought about by steroids, making them “weakest link in the chain,” said lead author Dr. Scott Horn of the UNC School of Medicine.

The survey indicated no steroid related increase in the risk of injury to the muscle (biceps and triceps) and no increase of injury to shoulders and tendons.

Based on previous studies, the researchers suspected that tendons might be at increased risk to cope with a rapid increase in muscle size and strength.

The findings of the research correlated the injuries caused by steroid use with other negative health effects through a “snowball effect”. This means that injuries that have occurred led to the development of more health problems later on in life. This was further determined when respondents who had used steroids also admitted to suffering various systemic diseases such as osteoarthritis and depression, and having a generally physically inactive lifestyle years after the injuries have occurred. The development of these medical entities which also include obesity and diabetes is gradual.

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