ABSTRACT
Rhabdomyolysis is a serious and potentiallylethal disease that can develop from a variety of traumatic and nontraumatic conditions. In this report, the authors describe a case of rhabdomyolysis that occurredafter a body-building tournament. A 32-year-old body-builder was admitted due to quadriplegia and muscle pain. The patient had a serum potassium level of 1.8 mmol/L, creatinine phosphokinase level of 5,414 IU/L and urine myoglobin of 128.1 ng/ml. He had taken anabolic androgenic steroids for 6 months and overate himself with carbohydrate food after the tournament. Possible causes for the rhabdomyolysis were hypokalemia, exercise, and anabolic androgenic steroids, etc. His condition was fully recovered without complications after potassium replacement and general supportive care. Body- builders may be exposed to rhabdomyolysis risk factors such as diet control, weight reduction, and taking steroids. Therefore, special attention and education on rhabdomyolysis should be provided to body-builders.