Dehydration Injuries and Student Athletes
This is sparked by the recent news of the McMinnville High School Football team's experience with rhabdomyolysis in the wake of an intense pre-season workout/training camp. In short, 24 members of the team had to seek emergency medical attention for pain and other symptoms. 13 of that number were admitted for treatment, with three of the students requiring emergency surgery to treat compartment syndrome.
Story here. Wiki articles for rhabdomyolysis and compartment syndrome linked as well.
There is all sorts of FUBAR in this story, including concerns that the student athletes are reported to have been encouraged to consume a muscle building shake, which if that's the case, would have the effect of making the physiological complications of the rhabdomyolysis more extreme: overloading and possibly damaging the kidneys with an excess of protein in the bloodstream. The full report on that will have will have to wait until such time as the more sensitive tests that health officials have already ordered come back.
What's damning, in my eyes, is that there's some accusations of serious misjudgment of heat injury potential. A portion of the workout took place in an enclosed wrestling room, without air conditioning. At least one parent has told The Oregonian that
Quote:
...players have told him they were not allowed to drink water until they completed the exercises.
The doctor who has taken the lead for treating the afflicted team members, and who doubles as the team's physician is also questioning the wisdom of this workout:
Quote:
Winkler, who doubles as the football team's physician, also questioned the wisdom of the workouts.
Players told him "they were working out for more than 20 minutes in an enclosed room in 115-degree heat," Winkler said. "That seems pretty intense to me. From a medical point of view, I would not allow anyone to exercise at temperatures over 100."
The school is admitting that water availability may be an issue - i.e. that there would be limited means for the athletes to get physical access to water, which is bad enough. But if the claim that the coach was denying the athletes water can be substantiated, I think we're into what should be at the very least considered demonstrated incompetence. Heat stroke is a very real concern, and kills enough people each year. Playing stupid 'character building' games with water availability should be just cause for firing anyone from a position as coach, IMNSHO. The fact that the NYT reports that heat and dehydration are risk factors for the condition that the athletes did suffer only makes me angrier.
Now, in the real world, I'm not about to start buying into the idea that no one should exercise at temperatures above 100 F. That seems incredibly stupid to me, those temperatures do happen, and people have worked pretty strenuously in them through the ages. What I'd like to see, with that permission, however, is some recognition that it's a potentially dangerous temperature regime, and that ready access to water needs to be available, and that at the first signs of heat stress, people should be offered the chance to take breaks. i.e. do it in a sensible manner, not trying to act like you or the people you're supervising are some kind of machines that ignore the temperature around them.
There are enough damaging things done in the name of high school sports that we don't need to allow or encourage coaches to ignore health concerns out of some macho bullshit.
