The sudden health complication you can develop from exercise as healthy NYC marathoner, 24, dies following race

A young and otherwise healthy New York City marathoner died hours after completing the race due to a dangerous condition that can develop from exercise.Rachel Apa was running her first marathon when she collapsed in Central Park, just two miles from the finish line.The 24-year-old was rushed to Mount Sinai and died at 9:40 p.m.from a condition called rhabdomyolysis, her father, Steve Apa, told the New York Times.This is when muscles break down, flooding the blood with proteins and electrolytes, damaging critical organs.How could this happen to someone in “perfect health, perfect shape,” as her dad described?Apa had been training for months for the race, he said.

But that’s exactly why she was at heightened risk for the life-threatening disease.Here’s what to know about rhabdomyolysis, aka “rhabdo.”Rhabdomyolysis is the rapid breakdown of skeletal muscles — those attached to bones, as opposed to muscles in the heart and other organs.That releases a deluge of compounds into the blood that the body isn’t equipped to process, the most notable of which are the protein myoglobin and the electrolyte potassium.The kidneys try to filter myoglobin out, but the large molecules clog it up, poisoning the kidney tissue and leading to renal failure.Damaged muscle cells burst and dump potassium into the blood, disrupting signals in the heart.

This can cause fatal cardiac arrhythmias and cardiac arrest.Any muscle injury, like a car crash, burns, electrical shocks, and even medications, can cause rhabdomyolysis.Exertional rhabdomyolysis is specifically from high-intensity exercise or a prolonged, extreme workout.Rhabdo is relatively uncommon, with about 26,000 people in the US developing it every year.Endurance athletes like marathon runners are at higher risk, as are those who do similarly intense activities, like spin classes or CrossFit.Authors of a 2021 study on exertional rhabdo noted that the condition predominantly strikes young, healthy women — and wantin...