Matt Xie

overmedication

Many professional hockey players use prescription medication to cope with the physical and mental demands of their jobs.

“My thesis, "The Good Game," focused on the physical, cultural, and emotional toll hockey culture has on the individual and the community.The overmedication epidemic in hockey is exacerbated by the sport's macho culture encouraging players to continue playing through undiagnosed or unhealed injuries, and made worse in some leagues by the fact that their medical professionals don't communicate patient records between each other, placing no limit on how much of a medication a player has access to. This is dangerous in a job that leaves many susceptible to life-threatening addictions. When you consider that not all patients are being prescribed medications that work for them, or are necessarily the medications they need, it becomes clear that this is a medical concern that needs to be addressed.”