Kind of a strange story here. I've never heard of this problem before.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6061650
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The University of Iowa said Wednesday that 13
football players had to be hospitalized this week with a muscle disorder
following grueling offseason workouts that left them with extreme
soreness and discolored urine.
The players have rhabdomyolysis, a
stress-induced syndrome that can damage cells and cause kidney damage
and even failure in severe cases, school spokesman Tom Moore said at a
news conference two days after players were hospitalized at the
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.
School
officials said the players, whom they would not identify, were in stable
condition and responding well to treatment, which includes bed rest and
the administration of hydrating fluids. Moore said he did not know when
the players would be discharged.
Director of football operations Paul
Federici said the players participated in workouts that started last
Thursday after they returned from winter break. Some of them complained
to medical staff after a workout on Monday and symptoms included
soreness throughout the body and tea-colored urine, and other players
were told they should receive treatment if they had similar problems, he
said.
All five Iowa strength trainers were present at these workouts, according to ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg.
A
former athletic trainer, Federici said he's never seen the syndrome
among student-athletes at Iowa before. He said he was still looking into
the details of the workouts but said they were no different than those
from previous years during what he called a critical seven-week stretch
of training.
"It is strenuous. It is ambitious. The
student-athletes know that," he said. "This is an anomaly. We just
haven't seen this type of response before."
He said the players range from freshmen to upperclassmen and include a range of positions.
One
of those hospitalized is freshman linebacker Jim Poggi of Towson, Md.,
whose father, Biff Poggi, said his son complained to trainers on Monday
after several days of soreness. He said his son's pain started last
Thursday with a lower-body workout that involved performing 100 squats
in a certain amount of time and pulling a sled 100 yards. It got worse
Friday after an upper-body workout, and Monday's workout "didn't go
well." His urine was discolored, and the team's medical staff sent him
for treatment.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, athletic director Gary
Barta and team doctor Ned Amendola were all out of town on business and
not at the press conference. Chris Doyle, the team's strength and
conditioning coach who has worked under Ferentz all 12 years of his
tenure, and other strength coaches who oversaw the workouts were not
made available to reporters.
Doyle is nationally known as a leader
in player development, turning sometimes scrawny freshmen into physical
specimens by the time they graduate. Ferentz has said that is a key
part of his program's success.
Biff Poggi, a high school football
coach in Baltimore, said he was concerned about the situation but also
confident his son would recover and rejoin the team. He said the
hospitalized players are disappointed and eager to resume practice.
Biff
Poggi said his son's treatment hasn't included dialysis, but bed rest,
IV fluids and blood work to ensure there's no kidney damage.
Another
player, freshman defensive lineman Carl Davis of Detroit, wrote Sunday
that he couldn't walk or feel his arms after performing 100 squats and
100 bench presses, and had "a whole weekend of soreness." A third,
freshman defensive back Tanner Miller of Kalona, Iowa, wrote on Tuesday
that he had a "night in the hospital ... couldn't be a worse day."
The
Des Moines Register confirmed through Alan DiBona that his son,
freshman linebacker Shane DiBona, was among the 13 hospitalized.
Shane
DiBona had described a workout last week on Facebook. "I had to squat
240 pounds 100 times and it was timed. I can't walk and I fell down the
stairs & lifes (sic) great," the Register reported.
Alan DiBona told the newspaper he had spoken with his son, and "he's doing great."
University
of Iowa doctor John Stokes, a kidney specialist who is not involved in
the players' treatment, said the common denominator is they had all
participated in strenuous exercise, which commonly brings on the
disorder in otherwise healthy young people. He said the symptom is
common among military recruits in boot camp and treatment usually
focuses on trying to limit kidney damage.
"I've been at UI for 32
years and I don't think I've seen 13 people get rhabdomyolysis," he
said. "It's a fairly common diagnosis. This cluster would be unusual."
Athletes
routinely recover from the disorder and go back to playing, but they
may change their exercise routines and ensure better hydration, he said.
Associate
athletics director Fred Mims said school officials would take steps to
"ensure it doesn't happen again." Mims, who is in charge of the
department's compliance with NCAA rules, said the matter did not need to
be reported since the workouts were allowed and routine.
He said
the case is a "good lesson" for why university officials should ask
players about how they are feeling after strenuous workouts. He said
Iowa will also try to avoid problems after players return from school
breaks and might not have kept up with fitness routines by making sure
expectations are clear.
