"Boosting" performance in disability sport.

There is no less contentious issue in elite sport than doping to enhance performance. Athletes are always looking to find the edge over opponents by fair means, or by foul in some cases. Potentially hazardous risks to health through doping are taken in the pursuit of sporting excellence. The increasing profile of disability sport and its potential rewards combined with the frailty of human nature has lead some athletes with disabilities to seek improved performance through the administration of banned substances. There is however, a doping method unique to disability sport, which is termed ‘boosting’. Boosting is the intentional induction of autonomic dysreflexia to enhance performance and was deemed a banned method by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 1994. But how and why did this practice come about?