Each discipline has its ghosts.
Are you powerlifter? Your phantom has the shape of the L4 and L5 vertebrae. Strongman? You have no idea what that means drop one Atlas stone on the foot? Bodybuilders? You open the fridge, and there are no more chicken breasts and broccoli.
Hard, guys, hard.
And for crossfitters?
There is rhabdomyolysis.
Index
Bad taste and tradition
That is since the CrossFit association®rhabdomyolysis has become - how to say? - publish. So much so that also the excellent Greg Glassmann (peace to his soul) said her, still in 2005: first admitting on journal.crossfit.com the 5 cases of the disease among CrossFit athletes® (all hospitalized), then presenting the character Uncle Rhabdo, a muscular as well as pumped-out clown attached to the hemodialysis machine.
Chamber spirit, or underestimation of risk?
The science of rhabdomyolysis
Imagine your precious muscles: the ones you put the proverbials into "Blood, sweat and tears" to grow.
[a black and white video starts, accompanied by the dreamy music of when you think back to a love story: you doing dumbbell curls, you flexing in front of the large dressing room mirror, you kissing your right bicep]
Here it is. Now imagine that your muscles are so tired as to discard, and that the cells pour their contents into the bloodstream (what a horror).
This is the stress rhabdomyolysis (there is also the trauma one, but now we don't care).
The fault is prolonged intense physical activity and the resulting muscle damage. Excessive catabolism in muscle cells causes myoglobin, creatinine, potassium, calcium and uric acid are released into the blood, causing acidosis. Myoglobin is also toxic, e gives rise to kidney failure.
The consequences are harmful (and painful), including in addition to physical exhaustion, the possibility of the formation of micro-clots of blood around.
In short: rhabdomyolysis is caused by the end of metabolic resources, that is, by extreme metabolic stress, which leads to apoptosis of the cells - their death. The body no longer has the resources to compensate for fatigue, and it goes haywire.
Symptoms:
- Brownish-red urine
- Exhaustion and fatigue
- Threw up
- Muscle and joint inflammation
- Swelling of hands or feet
- Weakness and dizziness
- Palpitations
A nice mess, in short. Tests (CPK-creatine phosphokinase, myoglobin, potassium and creatinine) help diagnose it.
To get out of it? It depends on gravity, it goes from intravenous rehydration, on hemodialysis.
Rhabdomyolysis: real risk or legend?
Let's face it: rhabdomyolysis is a rare disease, which seems to exclusively affect elite athletes (those who train 8-10 times a week).
Basically, the measures to avoid taking the risk they are very simple:
- train within our possibilities, practicing WOD that should be calibrated on our body
- hydrate properly, perhaps taking mineral salts before, during and after the WOD
- pay attention to extreme conditions (such as the heaviest summer heat)
- recovery, recovery, recovery: after training sessions, but also after injuries
- listen to the signals of the body: if we are in the box for several days in a row with the motivation that is missing, the energy under the heels and a general sense of exhaustion, let's try to scale the WODs, or to diversify the training by doing lighter activities
In general, more than we can even imagine.
(although, as a matter of fact, some statistics they say that compared to Glassmann's post in 2005, cases of rhabdomyolysis have increased at least 20 times. More effort in circulation, and simply more awareness, and therefore more I remember to a medical diagnosis?)
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