Background—Athletes with injury-related pain, especially National Football League (NFL) players, are at increased risk for opioid use and misuse which may result in medical, psychiatric and social problems. This is the first study to evaluate the intersection of sports pain and opioid use and misuse among former NFL players. Methods—A telephone survey of 644 retired NFL players from the 2009 Retired Players Association Directory was conducted (53.4% completion rate) from March to August 2010. Results—Over half (52%) used opioids during their NFL career with 71% reporting misuse. Additionally, 15% of NFL misusers currently misused vs. 5% among players who used just as prescribed during...
