Do Steroids Increase Tendon Rupture Risk? - Pulled from Muscular Development

Health experts often list tendon rupture as a risk of anabolic steroid use based on clinical reports of athletes treated for tendon injuries who also took steroids. Several anecdotes do not constitute data! German scientists reported the case of a 29-year-old professional soccer player who ruptured his patellar (knee) tendon and both Achilles tendons within 18 months. He had taken steroids for three years before the injuries and used them to promote healing following each surgery. They concluded that steroids are linked to a high number of unrecorded cases of tendon injury in athletes and the drugs might interfere with healing following tendon surgery. Well-controlled studies found that anabolic steroids actually strengthen tendons (Am J Sports Med, 32:934-43, 2004; Int J Sports Med, 21: 406-11, 2000). Why do we have clinical reports linking steroids to tendon ruptures in athletes, yet experimental studies showing that anabolic steroids strengthen tendons? Athletes who use steroids are usually highly motivated and more likely to ignore the pain of early tendon injury. They probably would have sustained the injuries if they hadn’t taken the drugs. (Unfallchirurg, 111: 46-49, 2008)