Paralympic snowboarder Amy Purdy has been hospitalized for four days due to a serious condition called rhabdomyolysis. Purdy, who crushed it on season 18 of Dancing with the Stars, shared the news of her condition with fans via Instagram on Tuesday.
“You should Google it and read about it, it’s crazy,” she captioned a photo of her arm, hooked up to an IV. “It basically can occur when you overwork a muscle group and the muscle begins to break down into your bloodstream.”
Amy says she did a series of pullups and “simply pushed too hard to complete the set.” Though her muscles were sore, it was the swelling in her arm that caused her to rush to the ER, she wrote.
John-Paul H. Rue, M.D., an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon at Baltimore’s Mercy Medical Center specializing in the prevention and treatment of injuries, says pushing it too hard is one of the most common ways people get rhabdomyolysis. While your muscles are constantly breaking down (and rebuilding) during the workout process, “the danger is when that breakdown becomes excessive,” he says.
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And Luga Podesta, M.D., director of sports medicine at St. Charles Orthopedics in New York, stresses that this can happen to anyone. "You may think you're in good shape but everyone's threshold is different," he says.
But there’s a noticeable difference between the effects of completing a hard workout and rhabdomyolysis. “If you work out today, you may feel soreness later,” Rue explains. “This is above and beyond that. It’s ‘I have the worst Charley horse ever,’ and it’s all over your body.” It also gets worse with time. People with rhabdomyolysis may also have difficulty moving, swelling, and dark urine, he says.
One major risk of rhabdomyolysis is kidney failure, says Amy, which is a huge concern for her since she's had a kidney transplant. “It's been a very intense week, hooked up to machines supporting my kidney through this process,” she says. “It's so crazy to be so healthy and to think you are doing good for your body, then to suddenly have a life-threatening condition occur.”
Amy says her kidney is doing well, likely because she sought help when she did. “Had I waited a few more hours before going to the ER, my situation could have easily been critical,” she said.
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Amy says she wanted to share her story because rhabdomyolysis can happen to anyone. “You have to listen to your body,” she said. “When it is telling you to stop…stop! My doctor said we all have a breaking point, and I just happened to find mine.”
Hydration—but not overhydration—can help prevent the condition, says Rue. Podesta also recommends ramping up the intensity of your workouts slowly. "That can also help prevent stress fractures or other types of injuries," he says. Unfortunately, it's tough to say exactly what type of workout or level of intensity will lead to rhabdo, since everyone’s body is different.
While you may read this and freak out, Rue says you shouldn’t. If you like to work out hard, you’re probably OK, provided you drink plenty of fluids and listen to your body. However, keep the symptoms of rhabdomyolysis on the backburner, just in case. “It’s probably more common than we suspect,” Rue says.
