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	Teenage rugby players - including boys as young as 14 - are risking permanent disability by taking muscle-building products to bulk up and increase energy levels.</p>
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	The Irish Sports Council has issued a stark warning that the amount of supplements being used in schools rugby is &quot;worrying and excessive.&quot;</p>
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	Dr Una May, Director of Anti-Doping, said this is confirmed by sports medicine experts who are seeing an &quot;unusual amount&quot; of serious injuries in younger players.</p>
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	Young men &quot;looking for a shortcut&quot; to sporting success could be storing up serious long-term health problems, she warned.</p>
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	&quot;They are increasing their muscle bulk at a rate that&#39;s not in proportion to their overall development,&quot; she told the Irish Independent.</p>
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	&quot;Therefore their muscular skeletal system is all out of sync. Their bone structure can&#39;t cope; neither can their tendons and ligaments cope with the increase in muscle strength.We don&#39;t know what the long-term implications of using these products will be,&quot; she added.</p>
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	While supplement use has seeped into sports generally, their &quot;high level&quot; of use in rugby playing schools is of particular concern. She said the warning is indicative of an almost obsessive devotion to schools&#39; rugby, akin to American high school or college football.</p>
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	It is common practice for young rugby players at many schools to get on to varying kinds of weights programmes.</p>
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	But they are also consuming protein in unhealthy quantities to boost their chances of getting a place on the school team, said Dr May.</p>
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	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/teenage-rugby-players-risk-longterm-disability-by-overuse-of-supplements-30631438.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/teenage-rugby-players-risk-longterm-disability-by-overuse-of-supplements-30631438.html</a></p>
