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Re: prevalence of beta blocker use

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-08-25 23:10

No matter what anyone *thinks*they know, I doubt if you'd be able to get even close to an accurate assessment of this. For one thing, beta blockers aren't banned by the AFM or the League of American Orchestras, and there's no other organization that would be able to keep track among non-union non-orchestral players. There's no reason why anyone would report his or her use to anyone or that anyone would report on anyone else's use. So there would be no source on which to base this kind of claim.

There is a huge difference in the ways beta blockers and anabolic steroids help performance. One simply reduces anxiety - it doesn't build anything or make a player more physically powerful or cognitively hypersensitive in any way. The other actually increases the body's ability to build muscle, strength and endurance.

I don't personally know anyone who I *know* uses beta blockers for performance nerves. Maybe some do. Maybe (IMO, probably) not. It isn't something that anyone even within the music profession, much less a "body builder" trying to defend PED use, would know on a scale wide enough to make a general statement.

Karl

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