Statins May Heighten Chances of Muscle Damage For Athletes
Marathon running has grown in popularity over the past three decades with the participation in the United States reaching 25 000 runners in 1976 and more than 470,000 in 2008. Many professional and amateur athletes do take prescription drugs for a plethora of things with no regard to the side effects that they impose. One such class of these drugs that athletes commonly use are called statins. This includes drugs such as Lipitor, Crestor and Pravachol, and other cholesterol lowering drugs. In a recent study published in the American Journal of Cardiology, the effects of statins has been associated with muscle damage in extreme athletes. Statin drugs create kinase (CK), which is an enzyme associated with with the damage of muscle tissue. Elevated levels of CK in the blood and muscles after exercise or an intense physical feat are correlated with muscle damage.
The study conducted by Dr Beth Parker of the Henry Low Heart Centre at Connecticut's Hartford Hospital, is the first to measure the levels of how much CK statins are in athletes after they exercise. For many years exercise physiologists have been monitoring the CK levels in professional athletes in order to help them from over training themselves. In marathons and other extreme resistance associated sports where significant muscle damage is prevalent, CK is elevated with an average of 10-15 times or even more within 24 hours after the extreme event. One such researcher, Dr. Parker, is adamant in emphasizing the the benefits of daily exercise with reasonable meaning, however he says that the increase of unnecessary CK does more harm than good may prevent people from returning to the benefits of an established and active routine of daily exercise. He also said that while CK levels increased, the benefits of exercise are inferior to the ravages of time.
What happens to athletes if the amount of CK increase with the use of prescription drugs? Dr. Parker conducted a study on 80 highly trained marathon runners. She said that the levels of post race CK in athletes that were using prescription drugs were significantly higher than in the number of athletes who took did not. The side effects are another important factor that many athletes overlook. Muscle aches, fatigue, and a condition known as rhabdomyolysis (severe muscle atrophy which produces large amounts of muscle fiber contents that is toxic to the kidneys), impotence , and scarring of the liver. Other alarming issues are problems related to the emotional and cognitive skills of extreme athletes. Anxiety, depression, and memory loss has been reported as well. Unfortunately professional and amateur athletes are told to tolerate the side effects of statins because it reduces muscle complaints.
