What do you all think of this new method of reducing pain (granted, marketed toward women), but potentially useful to the distance runner? Could this be considered an ergogenic aid that would either be an outright violation, or at the very least, an ethical violation that would subvert the rules, even if the substance / procedure is not presently on the banned list?
Podiatrist Claims Injections Relieve High Heel Pain
May 22, 2008
Women who refuse to give up their favorite high-heeled shoes are turning to a Miami podiatrist for relief.
Dr. Cynthia Marzouka-Lousito said some of the pain comes from the loss of fat in the ball of the foot.
"What happens is when you lose the fat, you're walking on the bones. And imagine your whole body weight on your foot, along with gravity," said Marzouka-Lousito.
At Protech Sports Medicine in Miami, Marzouka-Lousito offers patients a potential solution by injecting a synthetic compound called Sculptra into the foot.
"You recover immediately," said Marzouka-Lousito. "We inject you today, you walk out with a plump foot immediately."
Sculptra was approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a facial filler for patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but some doctors have used it off-label for other purposes.
The manufacturer's Web site said potential side effects from Sculptra include redness, bruising, and bumps under the skin.
Marzouka-Lousito said a treatment typically lasts eight months to a year. The procedure costs about $1,000 per foot.