‘Spin class can lead to kidney failure’: M’sian woman shares life-threatening experience after attending cycling class

TikToker shares life-threatening experience after participating in a spin class

On Sunday (15 Sept), a netizen took to Instagram to share her life-threatening experience after she participated in a spin class in Malaysia.

Sofea, known by her Instagram handle @sofeashra, claimed she was in great pain after trying out an indoor cycling class for the first time.

Initially, she passed it off as a “normal” muscle soreness.

Little did she know that the pain she was experiencing was more potentially fatal than she imagined.

Doctor had initially dismissed her pain

Unfortunately, her pain persisted days after her spin class session and even kept her awake throughout the night.

She subsequently visited a doctor and was given injections to alleviate her muscle aches.

However, the injections did not ease her agony.

“There’s a smile on my face but I was in so much pain,” she wrote in her post.

The turning point, which shed light on her condition, happened when she posted about her condition on the social media platform, Threads.

In the post, she shared that she had been in persistent pain for more than 2 days after trying out spin class for the first time.

A spin instructor replied to her post to urge her to get herself checked as soon as possible.

The instructor explained that Sofea’s symptoms could be due to rhabdomyolysis, commonly termed as “rhabdo”.

Rhabdo is a condition that causes muscles to break down, which can lead to kidney damage and failure.

Prompted by this reply, she visited another doctor to get her condition checked.

“Guess what? He laughed at me,” Sofea said in her post.

She added that the doctor told her  that rhabdo is “very rare” and only athletes who engage in extreme workouts get it.

Hospitalised for 5 days due to extremely high CK levels

Despite the doctor’s jeers, Sofea went to a hospital to seek further treatment.

The doctors at the hospital performed blood and urine tests to get a more accurate picture of her condition.

To Sofea’s dismay, they found that her Creatine kinase (CK) levels were extremely high.

According to medical reports, high CK levels suggest that the individual is experiencing some type of muscle damage.

“Normal CK levels are less than 300, guess what was mine? 55,000,” she said, recalling her experience.

“I was warded immediately as the doctors said that my condition was very, very bad and if we delay it any further, my whole system could probably shut down.”

She confirmed in her post that she was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis

After five gruelling days in the hospital, she was discharged, fully recovered.

“If there’s one thing that I learnt from all of this, it is how important being healthy is,” Sofea wrote.

“You never know what you take for granted until it is taken away from you.”

She added that she was not able to use her legs properly for a week.

“All I could think of is how I should be more grateful for all the little things.”

Rhabdo conditions due to spin classes is a common occurrence

Rhabdo is a relatively common occurrence amongst individuals who attend spin classes.

A 2021 study done at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) showed that there was a surge of young patients suffering from rhabdo because of spin-related physical exertion.

According to the study, doctors speculated “that (the) intensity may be higher in spinning than outdoor cycling, as there is no need to stop for traffic, avoid obstacles or slow down for turns”.

The intense cycling, accompanied by the fast tempo music and dimmed lights, creates an environment for spin cyclists to push harder, even beyond their limits.

In Sofea’s situation, she admitted that prior to the spin class, she was usually “not one to exercise”.

Her extreme reaction to the spin class may have been a result of pushing too hard when her body was not conditioned to the level of intensity of the spin class she participated in.

She also recognised the need to cultivate the habit of exercising in her lifestyle following her ordeal.

MS News had reached out to Sofea for more details regarding her experience.

Also read: 79-year-old grandma in China goes viral for gym workouts, says she trains 5 times a week

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Featured image adapted from @sofeashra on Instagram and Instagram.