Hydration clinics providing IVs full of vitamins to people dogged by hangovers have proliferated in the past few years. So when Chaz Faulhaber and Kristy Anderson found themselves dehydrated after a 2014 mountain-bike race in Sedona, Arizona, it got them thinking: What if we could bring this to elite athletes?
Along with their friend Benjamin Wilks, a physician, the pair opened in Denver in 2015. The company also travels to running and biking events in a converted Sprinter van to deliver their pre-race drips and post-race rehydration packages, which range from $65 to $175, depending on the nutrients that are included. Faulhaber says an IV offers a quicker way to replenish both fluids and vitamins than, say, chugging a Nalgene bottle full of water with some electrolytes mixed in.聽
Doubters abound. Jim Winger, who is a family and sports-medicine specialist at Loyola University Chicago鈥檚 Stritch School of Medicine, says that the risks of inserting IVs into healthy people鈥攚hich include infection and even vein damage鈥攑robably outweigh any gains. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no benefit,鈥 Winger says. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 become better hydrated with an IV.鈥澛
Faulhaber just wants people to give IVs a shot. 鈥淲e love skeptics,鈥 he says.