What causes rhabdomyolysis?
Causes of rhabdomyolysis include:
- Injury or trauma: A severe burn (especially ones that cover a large surface area), electrocution or crushing injury can cause muscle fibers to break down rapidly. A crushing injury is one of the most common causes of rhabdomyolysis.
- High-intensity exercise: Jumping into an exercise program too fast can lead to rhabdomyolysis when your muscles don’t have time to heal after an intense workout.
- Severe dehydration and overheating: Heat causes faster muscle breakdown. Your kidneys can’t dispose of your body’s waste without plenty of fluids.
- Medications: Some medications can cause muscle breakdown, including antipsychotic, antidepressant and antiviral medications. Statin medications can also lead to rhabdomyolysis, especially when they treat diabetes or liver disease.
- Substance use disorder: Heroin, LSD, cocaine and alcohol are toxic to your body and can cause your muscles to deteriorate.
- Long periods of inactivity: People who fall, lose consciousness and can’t get up for an extended period can develop rhabdomyolysis.
- Certain medical conditions: Genetic conditions like McArdle disease and Duchenne muscular dystrophy can lead to rhabdomyolysis. Also, certain metabolic or mitochondrial conditions have a higher risk of rhabdomyolysis…
In my experience, crush injuries have caused the majority of the cases I have had to deal with, but that’s due to where I worked. High intensity exercise along with dehydration is the most likely cause here.
