Friday, February 18, 2011

Uncle Rhabdo

     Hey the fitness folks. Stay back, I'm still a little bit sick. I think it would be for the best if I did my rambling from afar.

     Today we need to talk about a serious injury, and something that we will brief to anyone before Crossfitting. That's right, its Rhabdoyolysis, or Rhabdo for short. Now CrossFit will "joke" about the term with it's mascot, Uncle Rhabdo (pictured below), but it's a serious injury, and our main talking point for today.

Ol' Uncle Rhabdo
﻿      So, what is Rhabdomyolysis? Well, breaking down the medical term it is Rhabdomyo (skeletal muscle) and lysis (rapid breakdown). Yep, the breakdown of skeletal muscles. Now I know there's always the old saying from my Globo Gym days saying that you have to breakdown muscles in order to build them up... well, not like this.

     Rhabdomyolysis can occur from a number a causes such as seizures, crush injuries and so on. But for us, we usually see this as extreme muscle activity, very frequently when dehydrated. When the muscle cell breaks down part of it is released into the bloodstream. This will cause life threatening harm to the kidneys, and eventually leading to kidney failure!

     Signs and Symptoms of Rhabdo can include confusion, headache, muscle pains and discolored urine. I don't want you jumping up and down thinking you have Rhabdo just because you're sore. When I refer to muscle pain, its not just limited to the area that was worked. This kind of muscle pain is over your entire body, and would make a task like sitting up horribly painful. So, if you're a bit sore and dehydrated... not Rhabdo. If you can't get up and you're pissing Coca-Cola... get to your nearest ER, especially because Rhabdo has a 20% mortality rate! Treatment will include a friendly IV and possibly dialysis (to save those kidneys).

     I hope I'm not scaring everyone with this diagnosis. I'm not saying it's just a matter of time before this develops. Remember, we're talking about extreme physical activity. That is why this is on many waivers on CrossFit boxes around the country, because maybe that first day of CrossFit is extreme. What I'm saying is, we all need to pay special attention to our bodies. I know we're always pushing ourselves to the extreme, but just stay hydrated and listen to you body, and odds are you'll be just fine. So don't stop, keep training... and do burpees.

Crossfit Thin Blue Line from Crossfit Thin Blue Line on Vimeo.

3,2,1, GO!

Yesterday's WOD:

Rest Day
At least this one was scheduled

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