Spinning: an arising cause of rhabdomyolysis in young females

BACKGROUND: 'Spinning' is an indoor cycling regimen. The number of case reports of spinning-induced rhabdomyolysis (SIR) has increased since 2004 in South Korea. AIM: The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical characteristics of SIR and compare it with other causes of rhabdomyolysis. METHODS: Patients who were diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis from 1 September 2011 to 30 April 2015 were included. We analysed the incidence of rhabdomyolysis, biochemical parameters and forced hospitalisation, which was defined as the days from admission to creatinine phosphokinase < 2000 IU/L. RESULTS: Among 70 included patients, 13 (18.6%) patients were diagnosed with SIR. The mean age of the patients with SIR was 25.69 ± 5.0 years, and most were females under 35 years old (12, 92.3%). Interestingly, the mean duration of spinning exercise before admission was only 59.23 min. Moreover, the patients with SIR showed more severe progress than the all-patients-except-SIR (AESIR) group. The serum creatinine phosphokinase, aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase levels of the patients with SIR were statistically significantly higher than the patients with AESIR. Additionally, the duration of forced hospitalisation was longer than that of the AESIR (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Spinning could be an important cause of rhabdomyolysis in young, unfit females, which is typically severe. A graded exercise programme is advised at the first session.