Sport research · Hockey

Peptides for hockey: the stooped posture, sprints and impact risk

Field hockey is played bent over at speed, with a hard ball and sticks at head height in the circle. This page maps those demands onto the evidence radar, links the brain-health research, and lists anti-doping status.

Head-impact sportWADA 2026 status checkedVerified PubMed citations

Tested athletes: read this first

Under the WADA 2026 Prohibited List (in force from 1 January 2026), BPC-157 is named under S0, TB-500 under S2.3, Ipamorelin and Tesamorelin under S2.2.4 and MOTS-c under S4.4.1 — all prohibited in and out of competition. Research peptides with no regulatory approval anywhere are caught by S0’s catch-all wording. Tested athletes: these are banned. South African athletes can check with SAIDS and the official 2026 List.

The demands

What hockey asks of the body

Hockey’s characteristic posture — trunk flexed, knees bent, stick low — loads the lower back and hip flexors for an entire match, and the game’s repeated sprints make hamstring and groin strains common. Ankle sprains on artificial turf and hand and finger injuries from the stick and ball round out the picture.

Head and facial injuries are less frequent than in rugby but more severe when they happen: a struck ball or a raised stick at penalty corners can cause concussion or facial fractures, which is why face masks are permitted for corner defence. That places hockey in the contact group for brain-health reading.

South Africa has strong men’s and women’s national teams and deep schools hockey, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and Gauteng. SA Hockey applies the WADA Code, so every compound status below applies to tested players.

Mapped to the evidence radar

Each demand below is mapped to one of the ten fixed research areas on our evidence radar. The heavier the weight, the more that area counts when compounds are ranked for Hockey: Recovery & Repair ×3, Cognition & Focus ×2, Sleep & Recovery Rhythm ×2, Longevity & Energy ×2.

Back, hamstrings and ankles · Recovery & Repair
Postural and sprint load plus turf sprains. Repair research here is preclinical.
Ball and stick impact · Cognition & Focus
Concussion risk at penalty corners. The brain-injury research review covers what neuropeptide trials found in hospital TBI.
Repeated-sprint capacity · Longevity & Energy
Energy-system demands; mitochondrial research (MOTS-c is WADA-prohibited) sits here.
Tournament blocks · Sleep & Recovery Rhythm
Multi-match tournaments compress recovery; sleep research is in older adults.

By the evidence

Highest-scoring compounds for Hockey

Ranked by weighted evidence score across Hockey’s research areas. A reading aid for the literature — not a recommendation, and not a performance claim.

Top three for Hockey, overlaid · strength of published evidence per area

Show the scores as a table

Evidence score per research area, 0 to 10
Area	KLOW	Cerebrolysin	Epitalon
Fat Loss & Metabolism	2	1	2
Appetite Control	1	1	1
Muscle & Body Composition	6	2	3
Recovery & Repair	10	8	5
Skin, Hair & Glow	10	3	6
Gut & Immune	10	4	5
Cognition & Focus	6	10	6
Mood & Calm	5	6	5
Sleep & Recovery Rhythm	3	5	9
Longevity & Energy	9	6	10

KLOW

In stock

7.3Hockey match

Recovery & RepairPrimary10/10

Extensive animal and tissue studies demonstrate rapid healing of tendon, ligament, muscle, and bone.

Cognition & Focus6/10

Copper chaperoning supports neurovascular integrity and dampens neuroinflammatory cascades.

Sleep & Recovery Rhythm3/10

Indirect — studied via anti-inflammatory and nervous-system gene-expression pathways; limited direct sleep data.

S0 + S2.3KLOW contains BPC-157 (named in S0) and TB-500 (named in S2.3). Tested athletes: this is banned.

Research overview View compound

Cerebrolysin

Restocking

7.3Hockey match

Recovery & RepairPrimary8/10

Robust stroke and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation trials prove functional neuroplastic recovery.

Cognition & Focus10/10

Extensive randomized trials in vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s document clear cognitive protection.

Sleep & Recovery Rhythm5/10

Small studies report EEG normalisation in dementia; sleep-specific data are limited.

M2.2Not named, and approved as a medicine in a number of countries. Its trials use intravenous infusions; outside hospital care, IV infusions over 100 mL per 12 hours are a prohibited method (M2.2).

Research overview Notify me on restock Glossary

Epitalon

Restocking

7.2Hockey match

Recovery & RepairPrimary5/10

Supports immune surveillance and restorative cellular maintenance cycles.

Cognition & Focus6/10

Long-term human cohorts report preserved cognitive faculties and neuroendocrine equilibrium.

Sleep & Recovery Rhythm9/10

Restores youthful nocturnal melatonin rhythm in clinical gerontology trials.

S0Not named. Epitalon has no current approval as a medicine anywhere we can find, which is the S0 test. Tested athletes should treat it as banned.

Research overview Notify me on restock Glossary

Semax

Restocking

7.0Hockey match

Recovery & RepairPrimary7/10

Demonstrates robust neuro-rehabilitation and cerebral ischemic protection in clinical cohorts.

Cognition & Focus10/10

Registered medicine with extensive clinical trials proving rapid BDNF induction, memory, and stroke recovery.

Sleep & Recovery Rhythm5/10

Enhances daytime cognitive efficiency, promoting stabilized circadian sleep-wake balance.

S0 (contested)Not named. Semax is a registered medicine in Russia, so S0’s approval test is contested, and it is an ACTH(4-10) analogue (S2.2.2 covers corticotrophins). No published ruling — tested athletes should treat it as a risk and ask first.

Research overview Notify me on restock Glossary

Tesamorelin

Restocking

6.7Hockey match

Recovery & RepairPrimary6/10

Raises IGF-1, the axis studied for collagen synthesis and connective-tissue repair.

Cognition & Focus7/10

Randomized controlled trials confirm significant executive cognitive function gains in older adults.

Sleep & Recovery Rhythm7/10

GHRH signaling deepens Stage 4 slow-wave restorative sleep architecture.

S2.2.4Tesamorelin is named as a GHRH analogue (S2.2.4), non-Specified, prohibited at all times — even though it is an approved medicine elsewhere. Tested athletes: this is banned.

Research overview Notify me on restock Glossary

NAD+

Restocking

6.7Hockey match

Recovery & RepairPrimary6/10

Accelerates cellular repair following metabolic or oxidative stressors.

Cognition & Focus7/10

Restores neuronal mitochondrial bioenergetics and counteracts age-dependent mental fatigue.

Sleep & Recovery Rhythm5/10

NAD+ couples to the circadian clock via SIRT1/CLOCK in mouse work (Science 2009).

M2.2NAD+ itself is not named. Delivering anything by IV infusion or injection above 100 mL per 12 hours outside hospital care is a prohibited method (M2.2).

Research overview Notify me on restock Glossary

Scores (0–10) rate the strength of the published research link in each area — large human trials score highest, then smaller human studies (Russian clinical research counted at full weight), then animal and lab work. They describe the literature, not an outcome for any person or athlete. All compounds are supplied strictly for laboratory research purposes and are not for human consumption.

The literature

What published research says about hockey

Concussion-in-sport consensus (Amsterdam 2022): remove, assess, and return through a graded protocol.[1]
MOTS-c is exercise-induced in human muscle and improved physical capacity in mice.[2]

Brain health

Head impact, concussion and the neuro research

Hockey involves repeated head impact, so brain-health research is part of the honest picture. Two evidence reviews on this site cover it without the marketing: neuropeptides and brain injury (concussion, traumatic brain injury and CTE — including the trials that found no benefit) and Cerebrolysin and stroke.

The short version: no peptide has been shown to prevent or treat sport-related brain injury, and there is no proven treatment for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Anyone with concussion symptoms should be removed from play and assessed by a doctor, and return to sport should follow a graded protocol.

Anti-doping

WADA 2026 status of every compound on this page

Quoted from the WADA Prohibited List 2026 (in force 1 January 2026). Where a compound is not named, we say so and explain how the List’s wording applies.

WADA 2026 Prohibited List status per compound
Compound	Status	What the 2026 List says
KLOW	Prohibited — named · S0 + S2.3	KLOW contains BPC-157 (named in S0) and TB-500 (named in S2.3). Tested athletes: this is banned.
Cerebrolysin	Method limit (IV) · M2.2	Not named, and approved as a medicine in a number of countries. Its trials use intravenous infusions; outside hospital care, IV infusions over 100 mL per 12 hours are a prohibited method (M2.2).
Epitalon	Treat as prohibited · S0	Not named. Epitalon has no current approval as a medicine anywhere we can find, which is the S0 test. Tested athletes should treat it as banned.
Semax	Treat as prohibited · S0 (contested)	Not named. Semax is a registered medicine in Russia, so S0’s approval test is contested, and it is an ACTH(4-10) analogue (S2.2.2 covers corticotrophins). No published ruling — tested athletes should treat it as a risk and ask first.
Tesamorelin	Prohibited — named · S2.2.4	Tesamorelin is named as a GHRH analogue (S2.2.4), non-Specified, prohibited at all times — even though it is an approved medicine elsewhere. Tested athletes: this is banned.
NAD+	Method limit (IV) · M2.2	NAD+ itself is not named. Delivering anything by IV infusion or injection above 100 mL per 12 hours outside hospital care is a prohibited method (M2.2).