Have you heard of rhabdomyolysis? If you are a CrossFit devotee, it’s a safe bet that your coach has heard of it even if you haven’t yet.
Although this disease is very rare, it has become an epidemic among CrossFit enthusiasts.
What Is Rhabdomyolysis?
Rhabdomyolysis occurs when your muscle cells are placed under such extreme pressure that they explode.
As these cells die, they leach protein out into the blood stream, including one form called myoglobin.
Your kidneys take up the job of clearing these dangerous proteins from the blood. Why? It’s just what they do.
Unfortunately, myoglobin proteins aren’t designed to be in the blood in the first place and they can easily overload the kidney.
When your kidneys try to filter out the dangerous proteins out of your blood, they can quickly become overloaded.
This can produce injury or death to all or part of the kidney in a short amount of time, and is potentially lethal.