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Fitness & Health

09th Nov 2021

Woman details how her first-ever class at gym almost resulted in her losing a leg

Kieran Galpin

Gym

She is using her experience to educate people

A woman has revealed that she nearly lost her leg in a spin class after developing a possibly fatal condition called rhabdomyolysis.

TikTok user Kaelyn Franco (@kofranco_) described her experience with the rare medical condition that developed following her first-ever spin class.

@kofranco_Like for part 2 ##greenscreen ##rhabdomyolysis ##spinclass ##compartmentsyndrome ##fitness ##fyp♬ lol im famous – Trixisye

With a caption that read: “Not me thinking I gained muscle doing a spin class”, the video opens with Franco sharing an image of her leg that shows what she believed to be bulging leg muscles.

Spoiler, she hadn’t become insanely ripped after just one class.

The TikTok then shows Franco laid up in a hospital bed alongside the caption: “Not me almost losing my leg and life the next day”.

@kofranco_Reply to @anadigaur2 Spin Class Dangers‼️##rhabdomyolysis ##fyp ##spinclass♬ original sound – KAELYN

Franco had participated in a spin class on September 15, with the 23-year-old saying she found it “very strange” that her legs “immediately buckled” when she jumped off the spin bike.

She said that she immediately “knew something was wrong,” despite her cousins dismissing her worries.

Not 24 hours later and Franco says she was “crying in pain” and so went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis.

@kofranco_Reply to @anadigaur2 Spin Class Dangers Part 2 of 3 ‼️##rhabdomyolysis ##fyp ##spinclass♬ original sound – KAELYN

The condition occurs when damaged muscle tissue releases its proteins and electrolytes into the blood.

Franco also revealed that the condition turned into acute compartment syndrome and as a result she had to under emergency surgery to remove the muscle that was breaking down into her bloodstream.

The operation may have saved her life.

@kofranco_Reply to @anadigaur2 Spin Class Dangers Part 3 ‼️ ##rhabdomyolysis ##fyp ##spinclass♬ original sound – KAELYN

However the removal was not without its complications and Franco is still not able to walk by herself. She says she is in “pain every single day”.

According to Franco, while she was released from the hospital after a week, she is still not able to walk or perform a number of activities by herself.

“I am not here to prevent people from working out or to sway people away from spin classes and exercising and all of that, more so I want to shed light to a topic that’s not really known about, not really talked about and it’s important to be cautious of these things because there is a big prevalence in spin classes lately,” Franco said.

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