Dr. Babeliuk: "Does ammonia really help?"

Former Rukh Lviv doctor Dmytro Babeliuk talks about the practice of using cotton wool with ammonia to revive football players.

"Does ammonia really help?

In America, last night, the topic of an old-school and pointless method of cheering up athletes - sniffing ammonia - was raised again. This old method of "switching on" to work is known all over the world, but progressive countries are already confidently moving away from it. Science shows that inhaling ammonia has no positive effect on an athlete's performance, cognitive function, or concentration during a game.

Instead, inhalation of ammonia vapors can lead to chemical burns of the nasal mucosa. Also, a sharp reflex in the cervical spine that occurs after inhaling an irritant can cause or aggravate a problem that may be present in this area due to an injury.

Inhaling ammonia is more about a bad habit. Young athletes are taught to do this from a young age, and today in Ukraine this method remains part of the players' pre-match ritual before going out for a game. Does it make any sense? No, it doesn't. The same applies to civilians who have lost consciousness," Babeliuk wrote on Telegram.