Why so much ibuprofen?

That's enough for me. The directions on the bottle recommend 1 x 200 mg pill every 4-6 hours. But it is possible to take a lot more: the max is 3200 mg/day. I've never had any stomach problems with ibuprofen or other NSAIDs.

I once cracked a rib and my doctor put me on 800 mg ibuprofen twice a day. _All_ pain went away as my swim times dropped steadily - so much so that it was upsetting the swim team's male hierarchy. Each new day I was recovered and invigorated, much to the irritation of my teammates. This went on for a month until the prescription expired. My swim times rose over the next 3 days as swimming became harder and the usual day-to-day pains returned.

Some people say that NSAIDs will prevent you from improving your ability in athletic events but that was not true for me and ibuprofen.

This is very little actually, this is what I take on non-painful days. When it hurts it's 800mg every 4-6 hours (up to 3200mg daily) combined with either 500mg or 1g acetaminophen depending on severity. Usually 1 or two rounds are enough, but definitely hit the limit a few times. These are pretty common dosages for anybody with serious pain.

Around 3 years on that regimen so far.