Rhabdo: Can CrossFit Kill You?

[hifrommike65]

Physical-therapy professor reveals dark side of CrossFit: Uncle Rhabdo

September 23, 2013


A physical-therapy professor says CrossFit workouts can be dangerous, and is disturbed by the CrossFit culture's idolization of sports injuries as badges of honor.
Eric Robertson, an assistant professor at Regis University, is shocked by the high incidences of the kidney condition rhabdomyolysis among CrossFit fans. Rhabdomyolysis, which is usually caused by excessive exercise, can lead to kidney damage or failure.
"[With rhabdomyolysis] the muscles become so overworked that the tissues begin to break down, and myoglobin, the bi-product of muscle fibers, is released into the blood stream," Robertson wrote on Medium Sept. 21.
"Rhabdomyolysis ... is an uncool, serious and potentially fatal condition resulting from the catastrophic breakdown of muscle cells ... Under extreme conditions your muscles cells explode. They die."
Robertson said CrossFit celebrates rhabdomyolysis, pointing out that its mascot is a garish-looking cartoon clown named Uncle Rhabdo.
"Uncle Rhabdo is an exhausted, but muscular cartoon clown connected to a dialysis machine with what appears to be his kidney, large intestine, and plenty of blood spilling onto the floor around him," he observed.
"The image of Uncle Rhabdo originally served as a tongue-in-cheek way for CrossFitters to prove that they had worked hard, but problems arise when athletes – and their trainers – don’t know when to call it quits."
In his physical-therapy practice, Robertson has encountered CrossFitters who do severe damage to their bodies because of the rigorous, ballastic weight-lifting and strength-training moves involved in the grueling workouts.
Ironically, Robertson noted that rhabdomyolysis is so common in CrossFit that CrossFit trainers themselves have written numerous blog posts about the condition. Interestingly, CrossFit fans who suffer injuries are often blamed for bringing the injury onto themselves, says Robertson, when in reality, a major problem is the lack of proper oversight in crowded CrossFit gyms.
Robertson isn't the only fitness expert who thinks CrossFit's hardcore workouts do more harm than good. Fitness coach Alan Aragon, the nutrition advisor for "Men's Health" magazine, praised CrossFit for introducing many sedentary men and women to rigorous exercise, but is annoyed by the movement's gung-ho celebration of injuries.
"CrossFit is kind of a rebellion against the pink-dumbbell, Universal-machine gym culture," said Aragon. "But they kind of swing the pendulum the other way around, where you get people doing a bunch of funny movements to utter exhaustion and bleeding all over the place and thinking it's cool."
Aragon, who is a continuing-education provider for the National Academy of Sports Medicine, also finds amusing the ironic cliché that "Crossfit makes women hot and men small."
While CrossFit proponents such as "The Biggest Loser" star Bob Harper say proper technique curbs the incidence of injuries, exercise scientists caution that CrossFit workouts can lead to injuries even if done with proper training and supervision.
"Crossfit has very ballistic training," Dr. Mark Kelly, an exercise physiologist at the American Council on Exercise, told Reuters. "You're asking people to move fast through a large range of motion. Even with coaching, the foundation of stability, mobility and psychomotor skill has to be laid [first]."
Interestingly, CrossFit founder Greg Glassman (who doesn't appear to do CrossFit himself) has boasted that the brutal workouts can cause serious injury or even death.
"It can kill you," Glassman, 56, told the New York Times. "I've always been completely honest about that. If you find the notion of falling off the rings and breaking your neck so foreign to you, then we don't want you in our ranks."

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[TheRage93]

I like this. Good post.

[TonyElTigre]

I would have to agree. Bodybuilding for me. I may not compete on stage but I train like I do, and that's good enough for me. I really love my workouts and always get a rush when I lift. This is a good read I don't recommend crossfit at all to anyone really. It's not a good thing for people to do. I would have to say that BB is better overall. What's your favorite exercise?

[LookinFit75]

These guys need to get juiced to the gills to avoid getting hit Uncle Chester or what ever the hell they are calling it.

[swingslammer]

Another reason to dislike Crossfit!

A lot of people going through basic training get rhabdo....because they have never done anything physical in their lives?

[soujerz]

I'm a PT and so many of our younger patients come in from crossfit injuries. It's pretty simple logic, most crossfit exercises or routines have every set done to failure. Which is just stupid the human body was never meant to perform like that let alone for someone who is not a trained athlete. All strengthening systems whether muscular endurance or muscular hyperstrophy even muscular strengthening are based off working to a given set of reps and maybe 1-2 sets during a session are taken to failure. Tendons and Ligaments are the first to go. But i can't complain business is booming and younger patients are more fun to work with than geriatrics.

[D-NUTZ]

No lie, I just talked with my Aunt who was visiting...

Her boss JUST started crossfit....already in the hospital with rhabdo.

She was like "Yeah, he was peeing blood...the doctors have said this is common from this kind of training".

[autoimmune]

Layne Norton on this topic.

[swingslammer]

I work in an Army hospital in a Basic training location. We get half a dozen Rhabdo cases a year for just the reasons Layne spoke of.....of course several thousand soldiers go through Basic every year. So I guess he is right about the numbers and relative danger.

[hifrommike65]

[hifrommike65]

It's not just from CrossFit.

[Poker face Ace]

I still can't believe I was diagnosed with it. But looking back in hynesight, this is not something to f around with.

Luckily thank God my CK levels are within normal medical guidelines. I would definitely say the 1 huge factor/indicator that I would go by is feeling extremely sorry/exhausted. If you notice that you are really sore (upper back, upper thighs, feeling really stiff to the point where you are having a difficult time raising your arms & scratching your head) that's a direct & very good indicator your CK levels are UP.. GO ASAP to the E.R. do not wait no longer. Pissing dark coca cola colored urine or waiting based off that is a sure gamble you could end up being on dialysis. Again, thank God I went, because I'm usually like "I'm tough I can push through" & things may have went worse.. lesson learned drink 1 gallon of clear water daily, train every other day, & keep work out just under 45 minutes EOD.

[Poker face Ace]

Oh and I thought cutting protein might help but the e.r. head physician said 'no don't worry just eat the usual amount you always eat with protein since your kidney function is normal."

[hifrommike65]

It can happen to anyone who trains strenuously, & PfA, you just gave the best advice on the Muscle Forums ever: get to the doctor immediately if you have symptoms that link you to this medical condition. It could save your life.