A young woman says she almost lost her leg after taking a high-intensity spin class.
Kaelyn Franco, 23, took to TikTok late last month to reveal that she was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis — a potentially fatal condition that involves a breakdown of muscle tissue.
Franco’s TikTok video — which has been viewed 3.5 million times — features a photo of her swollen left leg that was taken after she concluded a class.
“Not me thinking I gained muscle doing a spin class,” the Massachusetts native captioned.
Her video then dramatically cut to a photo that showed her lying in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of her body.
“Not me almost losing my leg and life the next day,” she wrote.
In subsequent videos, Franco explained that doctors diagnosed her with rhabdomyolysis — more commonly known as “rhabdo.”
According to the CDC, rhabdo “occurs when damaged muscle tissue releases proteins and electrolytes into the blood. These substances can damage the heart and kidneys and cause permanent disability or even death.”
Symptoms of rhabdo include severe muscles cramps and pain, as well dark urine that is often cola-colored.
In a separate Instagram post, Franco explained that her legs “immediately buckled” when she got off the spin bike. Her leg subsequently swelled up, and her urine was discolored.
Hours later, she was “crying in pain” and went to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed her with rhabdo and underwent “emergency surgery,” she said.
“I couldn’t walk or move and had to be put on a catheter,” Franco wrote in her anguish-filled Instagram post. “My rhabdo turned into acute compartment syndrome (a condition caused by pressure buildup from swelling tissues and internal bleeding).”
Doctors were eventually able to save Franco’s leg — “and my life,” she declared — by removing the muscle that was breaking down into her bloodstream.
However, Franco said she will suffer “lifelong complications” from the medical episode.
Approximately 26,000 people develop rhabdo each year. In 2016, the American Journal of Medicine published an article titled “A Public Health Concern. Spin Class-Induced Rhabdomyolysis.” The study focused on three people who developed the condition after spin classes.
The study concluded: “The high-intensity exercise associated with spin class comes with significant risks to newcomers.”
