Tufts lacrosse players discharged from hospital after rare muscle injury, university says

All nine members of the Tufts University men’s lacrosse team who were hospitalized this month with the rare muscle injury rhabdomyolysis have been discharged, and the university says it has hired experts to investigate what led to so many serious injuries after a training session.

“We want to express how grateful we are that the team members have returned to good health,” the university’s president, Sunil Kumar, and two deans wrote Wednesday in an update to students.

The players became unwell after a “voluntary, supervised” 45-minute workout September 16 led by a university alumnus who’d graduated recently from the BUD/S Navy SEAL training program, according to Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations for the Boston-area university. BUD/S stands for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training.

About 50 players participated in the workout, and nine were hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis, also known as rhabdo, a condition in which muscles break down and leak their components into the bloodstream. In serious cases, it can cause damage to the kidneys and other organs. The condition is relatively rare and can be life-threatening, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Tufts, whose men’s lacrosse team won the division championship in May, said it hired D. Rod Walters II, whom the university called “a nationally recognized expert in the care and prevention of student-athlete injuries,” and attorney Randy Aliment of the law firm Lewis Brisbois to investigate what contributed to the injuries and to assess the university’s response.

“A typical time of year when we see it in athletes is in the off-season or getting ramped back up,” he said.

It’s unusual but not unheard-of for multiple members of a team to get rhabdomyolysis at the same time. Clusters of cases among athletes have been observed among college football players in Iowa in 2011 and swimmers in South Carolina in 2007.

Sikka also noted that certain nutritional supplements, including increased caffeine and creatine, can add to the risk of the condition, although it’s not clear whether those played any role in the cases at Tufts.

“We know you have lots of questions,” the Tufts officials wrote in their letter Wednesday. “Frankly, we do as well.”

The university leaders said they were “following investigative best practices by refraining from making public statements to avoid unintentionally influencing the direction of the independent investigation,” and would share the findings when the investigation concludes.