Doctors studying UI rhabdo case for academic paper
The case of 13 Hawkeye football players being hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis in January will live on in medical journals but apparently won’t affect the Iowa football program going forward.
Dr. Loren Herwaldt, Dr. Ned Amendola and Dr. Kyle Smooth are writing an academic paper on the rhabdo incident, its investigation and aftermath.
“We want to educate everybody about it,” said Amendola, director of the UI Sports Medicine Center. “This is the largest experience any group has had with this disorder. We want to make everybody aware and realize this is a potential risk from that type of physical injury.”
Amendola said the doctors were in the process of putting all the data together and would submit it to the proper journal in the next three to four months.
All of the studying and data compilation thus far hasn’t identified why these 13 players had rhabdo, but many other Iowa football player who did the same workout did not.
“What we’re trying to come up with is any way to predict what players are at risk,” Amendola said. “There is such a variation amongst athletes. It’s very difficult to pinpoint.”
All 13 players who were hospitalized have fully recovered, according to a follow-up report for the Iowa state Board of Regents, submitted Aug. 23 and released to the public Tuesday.
“As far as can be determined at this point, all 13 injured football players made a full medical recovery from their rhabdo symptoms,” the report said. “It is still possible that long-term adverse effects will develop, but medical specialists regard this possibility as highly unlikely, given the players’ uniformly favorable lab results and their success in returning quickly to their regular training regimen.”
The 13 players were hospitalized Jan. 25 and 26, just days after an intensive squat workout. They were treated for rhabdomyolysis, where muscle fibers break down with the potential for kidney damage.
All 13 players were cleared for full workouts four weeks after being released from University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Three of the players have left the team since then, but none cited rhabdo as the reason.
No players were named in the report.
Amendola, the head team physician for the football program since 2001, said all of the rhabdo players are still being monitored.
“We are definitely watching this group very closely,” Amendola said. “We don’t think the window is closed. We are very aware of it.
“We monitor things very closely with all the players, but in particular the players that had the one episode.”
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football
