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Two Teenagers End up Hospitalized for Kidney Damage After a Squatting Competition

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After a friendly squatting competition spiraled out of control (there’s a sentence I never expected to type), two girls found themselves in intensive care due to pretty severe kidney damage.

How? Trust me, I wanted to know, too.

It began when Xiao Tang, a 19-year-old college sophomore and a friend challenged each other to a squatting competition. The pair are both admittedly competitive, so neither wanted to stop and admit defeat.

Image Credit: Pixabay

They wanted to determine who had the most stamina, said Xiao when she spoke with China Press – and that meant that they each ended up doing over 1,000 squats. Oh yeah, and neither of them are especially athletic.

The competition lasted around 3 hours before they both threw in the towel, and even though they were sore, neither was worried.

At least, not until the following morning.

“Something was wrong…first of all, my leg was not only sore, but I couldn’t bend it. Then I went to the bathroom and my urine was brown,” Xiao recalled.

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LEG day eh – Rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown) ? We build muscles by creating micro tears that heal up overtime and add on additional bulk. Have you ever wondered if there is such a thing as too much tissue damage. Or what happens after an INSANE leg day. . Rhabdomyolysis or Rhabo for short is just that. I’ve seen this a few times in the ED while working, and typically my patients are young men who went a bit too hard on leg day (no joke). . Rhabdo is essentially when your muscles break down (not in a good way) and release their contents, Creatine kinase (CK). It occurs after an extremely vigorous workout in individuals who have not worked up to that level of exercise (aka, weekend warriors or people who deicide to do leg day after months of nothing). . How do you know if you have Rhabo – here is a list of some symptoms and signs ✻ muscle pains **biggest symptom**, stiffness, cramping ✻ red/brown urine (you are peeing out myoglobin) ✻ very tense muscles (I mean rock solid) ✻ elevated muscle enzyme markers (tested in the ED) . Why is it dangerous? 1️⃣ Too much CK in the system can cause you to go into renal failure 2️⃣ You can suffer from compartment syndrome, where the muscles don’t have enough space to expand within the body. . How to treat ? it? ? IV fluids to make sure the body clears out the CK products. ? Figure out what caused it and avoid doing it again! . Rhabo is not that common, but does definitely happen in the athletic population. Pushing yourself past the limit is needed for advancement. Just be sure to not push yourself past the point of no return!. . ?Follow me for more sports med related content. . #rhabdo #Rhabdomyolysis #takecareofyourmuscles #pushyourself #elevated CK #legdaynoway #legday #emergency #health #medicine #mvmtmd #sportsmedicine #sportsmed #education #besafe #staysafe #wellness #canada #evidencebased #restday #workout #musclebuilding #musclebreakdown

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Luckily, she sought medical treatment. At the hospital, she was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a serious condition caused by skeletal muscle injury. It occurs when dead muscle fibers are released into the bloodstream, causing the kidneys to struggle and even fail due to an inability to filter waste.

Xiao (and her friend, who had also gone to the hospital that morning with the same symptoms) were treated with large amounts of IV fluids and dialysis. They were both able to recover after some time in intensive care, and their kidneys did not suffer permanent damage.

They were lucky, according to Dr. Bruce Cohen, a medical officer for the FBI, who reminds people to listen to their bodies and not to push beyond reasonable limits.

Especially not just to prove a point.