Generally, a broken toe isn't going to help your tennis game.
That's not necessarily the case, though, for athletes of the
Paralympic Games. It was recently revealed to the BBC by Dr.
Andrei Krassioukov that almost a third of Paralympic athletes
with spinal cord injuries are deliberately injuring themselves
to get an edge over the competition. Athletes are going as far
as breaking their toes with a hammer and shocking their
testicles in a practice called "boosting" to increase heart rate
and blood pressure. These are bodily responses that athletes
with spinal injuries do don't normally experience when
performing intense physical activities like fencing. About 17
percent of athletes who responded to an anonymous IPC survey
admitted to boosting during the Beijing Paralympics in 2008, and
Dr. Krassioukov believes the spike may now be at 30 percent.
Breaking your balls for a medal? C'mon, people, is the cover of
a Wheaties box worth that much? 36-year-old quadriplegic Brad
Zdanivsky: There have been times where I