Crossfit blamed for increase in Rhabdomyolysis

[Hoggage_54]

Working out ’til you’re sick? Doctors warn of rhabdo, a deadly condition linked to over exercising | Globalnews.ca

TORONTO – Your legs are shaking and buckling, the rest of your body is shuddering in pain whenever you move, and your urine turns red, “Coca-Cola brown” or even black.

These are the hallmark signs of rhabdomyolysis, a condition in which your body’s muscles break down. It used to be common in army training but with the rise of military-style workouts, everyday exercisers could be at risk. And the consequences could be fatal.

“If you’re working out on a regular basis, and you’re accustomed to the activity, it would be extremely unlikely to experience rhabdomyolysis. It’s more common when someone does unaccustomed activity,” Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, a researcher at McMaster University Medical Centre, told 16×9.

That could mean returning to a strenuous weight lifting regime you abandoned six months ago, or training for a 10K race then deciding to run a marathon instead.
A workout that led to the emergency room

Take Jay Armitage. For the most part, she considered herself fit and healthy, heading to the gym at least three times a week. But that stopped after taking on an important project at work that kept her out of the gym while eating out with clients for three months.

When she headed to her first Spartan workout class — similar a boot camp or CrossFit training — she kept up, but quickly felt the burn.

“We’re talking kettle bells, we’re talking burpees, endless amounts of using your own body weight to do sumo squats, push ups and it just went on…,” she said.

She knew this was a different workout than she’d ever done.

The next day, Armitage was in agony. She couldn’t move her arms far back enough to do her hair, or even put on her pants.

“I had never experienced pain like this. I had experienced ‘I feel sore after a workout that felt like a good workout’…this was drastically different than that,” she said.

“This is every little muscle in your body hurts when you move it. This is an incredible amount of pain and there is also some swelling.”

After a few medical tests, doctors confirmed Armitage had rhabdomyolysis. She headed straight to a hospital for treatment.
What is rhabdomyolysis?

There is always some muscle damage after a workout, but it veers into dangerous territory when exercisers dramatically overexert themselves.

“Someone is so sore that they’re having problems getting out of a chair, walking downstairs…or if they have urine that was turning red, tea-coloured brown,” Tarnopolsky explained.

Rhabdomylosis is the breakdown of muscle. Muscles have an outer coating, but if they’re stressed metabolically, the trauma can cause a rupture.

“And then some of the contents of muscle come out into the blood, things like CK, AST, and a variety of different enzymes, which can eventually end up damaging your kidney,” Tarnopolsky explained.

It first appeared during wars — soldiers would face crushing injuries, from say, bullet wounds or something falling on their legs that would damage muscles. Even in training, unprepared soldiers would get ill from high-intensity training. By the 70s, marathoners proved they could also deal with bouts of rhabdomyolysis.

While in treatment, doctors monitor urine, electrolytes and creatine kinase, one of the enzymes that indicate the degree of damage to their patient’s muscles. The protein leaks out of the damaged muscles.

A nurse who was treating Armitage told her she hadn’t seen higher CK levels on any other patient in her life. Normal levels range between 120 and 150. Hers was hovering at around 95,000.

Armitage had what she called “Popeye arms” because they were so swollen, “like blown-up balloons.”

Doctors were afraid she’d deal with kidney damage or kidney failure — Armitage only had one kidney to begin with so they worked quickly to get started on flushing out her dying muscle cells.
Military-style workouts, testing physical limits on the rise

And with the increase in CrossFit training, Tough Mudder and Spartan Races and even military-style boot camps comes a growing fascination with rhabdomyolysis.

The medical condition is even worn as a badge of honour, of showcasing an athlete pushing his or her physical limits.

CrossFit’s own’s counter-culture image comes with Pukey the Clown, in which some exercisers say they worked out so hard, they threw up.

Then there’s Uncle Rhabdo, a clown with kidneys dangling onto the floor while he’s hooked up to a dialysis machine.

Tarnopolsky said that these mascots make light of a serious condition.

“If you don’t die, you might end up in (the emergency room), kidney failure needing dialysis for the rest of your life,” Tarnopolsky said.

Rhabdomyolysis from overexerting yourself is completely avoidable, too.

Tarnopolsky has seen power lifters and body builders train without ever facing any symptoms of rhabdo. It’s the people who push their bodies too quickly and too intensely that end up hurting.

“You can’t jump in and bench press 250 pounds. I mean the body physically just can’t do it,” he said.

The American College of Sports Medicine provides guidelines on nutrition, exercise training and hydration but the everyday exerciser doesn’t easily interpret them. Ultimately, it’s on personal trainers, kinesiologists and health care providers to assess the advice and help their clients, Tarnopolsky said.

[Igifuno]

Crazy. Definitely confirmation to ramp up in whatever fitness routine you're engaging in.

[Hazard]

Igi about to have Rhabdomylosis on Sunday lmfao :-)

[Igifuno]

I ain't getting no randomlyosis

[RaginCajun]

Hahahaha Haz!

Iggi, I see what you did there!

I knew a chick that developed that from marathon training, almost killed her

[DCI]

I'll steer clear of marathons and crossfit

[noon]

That sounds insane/ awful
I have only pushed my self to the point of feeling like I may throw up one time
That was when I was at a training for work and refused to back down from the challenges set in front of us. The better you do the harder the next challenge will be. And that was deeply stressful situations to boot.

[diesel101]

Had a local guy who started a crossfit gym in his garage awhile back. He worked some poor overweight guy so hard he passed out and fell into garage door tracks and split his face open.
The poor guy lost some teeth and had to have several surgeries to try and put things back together.

[jimmyinkedup]

Having been hospitalized due to rhabdomyolosis myself I can attest to the fact that it is def no picnic.
I was curled up in a ball on my bathroom floor, entire body cramping, having just pissed dark brown urine and totally unable to stand.
Mine was induced by taking methyltren, not by over exercising. It was an extremely unpleasant experience and quite honestly I am lucky to have recovered full function of my kidneys. I was in renal failure and it was one of the time in my life I was in a situation where something was happening to me when I was alert enough to be aware and truly scared.
I think just like any activity you have to be aware of what the hell you are doing and not over do it for goodness sake. No one should jump right in and try an advanced or intermediate crossfit workout. They should start at a beginner level and progress accordingly. Its one thing to push yourself, its another to hurt yourself.

[RaginCajun]

Damn Jimmyink!

[crkr01]

Crossfit gets blamed for everything - you have got to listen to your body

[kelkel]

Crossfit gets blamed for everything

Yes. It's a gateway drug.

[crkr01]

Crossfit is a drug - well it is to me LOL

[kelkel]

Crossfit is a drug - well it is to me LOL

Humor brother, humor!

[Marsoc]

Working out ’til you’re sick? Doctors warn of rhabdo, a deadly condition linked to over exercising | Globalnews.ca

TORONTO – Your legs are shaking and buckling, the rest of your body is shuddering in pain whenever you move, and your urine turns red, “Coca-Cola brown” or even black.

These are the hallmark signs of rhabdomyolysis, a condition in which your body’s muscles break down. It used to be common in army training but with the rise of military-style workouts, everyday exercisers could be at risk. And the consequences could be fatal.

“If you’re working out on a regular basis, and you’re accustomed to the activity, it would be extremely unlikely to experience rhabdomyolysis. It’s more common when someone does unaccustomed activity,” Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, a researcher at McMaster University Medical Centre, told 16×9.

That could mean returning to a strenuous weight lifting regime you abandoned six months ago, or training for a 10K race then deciding to run a marathon instead.
A workout that led to the emergency room

Take Jay Armitage. For the most part, she considered herself fit and healthy, heading to the gym at least three times a week. But that stopped after taking on an important project at work that kept her out of the gym while eating out with clients for three months.

When she headed to her first Spartan workout class — similar a boot camp or CrossFit training — she kept up, but quickly felt the burn.

“We’re talking kettle bells, we’re talking burpees, endless amounts of using your own body weight to do sumo squats, push ups and it just went on…,” she said.

She knew this was a different workout than she’d ever done.

The next day, Armitage was in agony. She couldn’t move her arms far back enough to do her hair, or even put on her pants.

“I had never experienced pain like this. I had experienced ‘I feel sore after a workout that felt like a good workout’…this was drastically different than that,” she said.

“This is every little muscle in your body hurts when you move it. This is an incredible amount of pain and there is also some swelling.”

After a few medical tests, doctors confirmed Armitage had rhabdomyolysis. She headed straight to a hospital for treatment.
What is rhabdomyolysis?

There is always some muscle damage after a workout, but it veers into dangerous territory when exercisers dramatically overexert themselves.

“Someone is so sore that they’re having problems getting out of a chair, walking downstairs…or if they have urine that was turning red, tea-coloured brown,” Tarnopolsky explained.

Rhabdomylosis is the breakdown of muscle. Muscles have an outer coating, but if they’re stressed metabolically, the trauma can cause a rupture.

“And then some of the contents of muscle come out into the blood, things like CK, AST, and a variety of different enzymes, which can eventually end up damaging your kidney,” Tarnopolsky explained.

It first appeared during wars — soldiers would face crushing injuries, from say, bullet wounds or something falling on their legs that would damage muscles. Even in training, unprepared soldiers would get ill from high-intensity training. By the 70s, marathoners proved they could also deal with bouts of rhabdomyolysis.

While in treatment, doctors monitor urine, electrolytes and creatine kinase, one of the enzymes that indicate the degree of damage to their patient’s muscles. The protein leaks out of the damaged muscles.

A nurse who was treating Armitage told her she hadn’t seen higher CK levels on any other patient in her life. Normal levels range between 120 and 150. Hers was hovering at around 95,000.

Armitage had what she called “Popeye arms” because they were so swollen, “like blown-up balloons.”

Doctors were afraid she’d deal with kidney damage or kidney failure — Armitage only had one kidney to begin with so they worked quickly to get started on flushing out her dying muscle cells.
Military-style workouts, testing physical limits on the rise

And with the increase in CrossFit training, Tough Mudder and Spartan Races and even military-style boot camps comes a growing fascination with rhabdomyolysis.

The medical condition is even worn as a badge of honour, of showcasing an athlete pushing his or her physical limits.

CrossFit’s own’s counter-culture image comes with Pukey the Clown, in which some exercisers say they worked out so hard, they threw up.

Then there’s Uncle Rhabdo, a clown with kidneys dangling onto the floor while he’s hooked up to a dialysis machine.

Tarnopolsky said that these mascots make light of a serious condition.

“If you don’t die, you might end up in (the emergency room), kidney failure needing dialysis for the rest of your life,” Tarnopolsky said.

Rhabdomyolysis from overexerting yourself is completely avoidable, too.

Tarnopolsky has seen power lifters and body builders train without ever facing any symptoms of rhabdo. It’s the people who push their bodies too quickly and too intensely that end up hurting.

“You can’t jump in and bench press 250 pounds. I mean the body physically just can’t do it,” he said.

The American College of Sports Medicine provides guidelines on nutrition, exercise training and hydration but the everyday exerciser doesn’t easily interpret them. Ultimately, it’s on personal trainers, kinesiologists and health care providers to assess the advice and help their clients, Tarnopolsky said.

By no means do i cross fit train. But I was and will be again shortly training for a special forces program SFAS for Army green beret since I'm to old for the marine/ Recon for some bullshit reason.
Either way they mentioned that some said that they trained until they puked...well like I said I don't cross fit. But I would run super set with stair sprints and lunges, followed by puking and especially after an intense leg day squat super set with leg press etc. I'd be puking in the garbage can while everyone is taking pics in the mirror. (Even though I go late when nobody is there ) for this purpose lol but yeah that's about it

[MuscleScience]

10's of thousands go onto renal failure from laying on the couch all their lives a year. And 2-3 people out of a million do that from xfit. I'm far from a xfit nut hugger, But this is another excuse by fat lazy people and even fit people that don't or can't get their HR above 130 Bpm for more than 30 seconds to rip on people extremely more fit than they are.

[KimboHalfSlice]

This doesn't change my motto of "Run til you cry"

[Marsoc]

Efficiency is great but all the half ass candy ass bullshit lol. I chop firewood I don't hit a tire with a hammer lol. I cut down and load up oak tree sections. Not flip a tire lol. Better yet I do regular pull-ups even though in a real life situation when you need to pull your body weight up you will do anything you can to do so. But when your in a position and need to pull up dead weight being static. Different story. I'm all about real world application.