Sickle Cell Trait and Exercise

Sickle Cell Trait and Exercise

Sickle cell anemia, also known as sickle cell disease, is when the hemoglobin in your red blood cells is abnormal. This causes your red blood cells to change into a sickle shape, which can clog blood vessels, causing pain and damage to tissues and organs. This disease primarily affects African Americans. My father has sickle cell anemia, but, fortunately, my mother does not have sickle cell, which has left me to have the sickle cell trait. Though sickle cell trait does not cause sickle cell anemia, one can still experience complications from the trait.

One of the most important complications with the sickle cell trait is unexpected exercise related death. One of the reasons this happens is because of exertional heat illness. As stated by the NCAA Fact Sheet For Coaches “heat, dehydration, altitude and asthma can increase the risk for and worsen complications associated with sickle cell trait, even when exercise is not intense.” Though while exercising, one may seem to just be tired and out of breathe, they could ,in actuality be experiencing ischemic pain and weakness in their muscles and pushing through this can be fatal.

There are many precautions that can be taken to help with these complications. One of the most important precautions is staying hydrated at all times especially when it is humid and hot. Another is to “maintain proper asthma management.” It is also suggested that one should be stopped if there is a struggle or if one experiences muscle pain, unwarranted fatigue, and breathlessness.

Works Cited:

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/sicklecell/traits.html

2. Medicine.net:

http://www.medicinenet.com/sickle_cell/article.htm#1whatis

3. NCAA, A Fact Sheet for Coaches: Sickle Cell Trait:

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/health_safety/SickleCellTraitforCoaches.pdf

4. John Kark, M.D.

Howard Universty School of Medicine

Center for Sickle Cell Disease:...