Kolkata: Beware of strenuous physical workouts unless you are accustomed to such a regime. Jumping into intense physical exercise without proper hydration, especially when you are not used to it, can land you in hospital with complications of kidney injury. A 16-year-old boy learned his lesson the hard way after he was diagnosed with a condition called rhabdomyolysis, caused by muscle disintegration leading to toxic components of muscle fibers entering the bloodstream and the kidney. The boy, a student of Class X, indulged in non-stop intense exercise for an hour without a break at his north Kolkata home. He developed severe pain and weakness in both legs. His parents were alarmed when he started passing dark red urine. They rushed the teen to the emergency of Manipal Hospital-Broadway. By this time, his calf and thigh muscles were tightened with no leg movement. Doctors diagnosed the case as acute rhabdomyolysis, where due to acute muscle injury and breakdown of muscle fiber, the CPK (creatinine phosphokinase) level, which is usually around 300-400, increased to a whopping 88,000 due to muscular trauma leading to acute kidney and hepatic injury. "The acute muscle injury and the breakdown of the muscle fiber caused an acute inflammatory reaction, and the muscle protein entered the circulation, getting filtered in the urine, leading to the reddish color of the urine (myoglobinuria). Continuous unusual exercise without any rehydration is always discouraged as the condition could have been fatal since the boy showed signs of acute renal and hepatic injury. However, immediate fluid and electrolyte supplementation restored normality slowly. His CPK levels and other blood parameters normalized, too," said Subhasis Ganguly, consultant internal medicine, Manipal, Broadway, under whom the boy was admitted. While taking down the history, the hospital learned that he was not accustomed to such strenuous exercise. It is not clear why he abruptly took on the non-stop workout for about an hour. In addition to RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) therapy, he had to be put on IV fluid for correcting the dehydration. He recovered in three days and was discharged after counseling. "This can happen to anyone across all ages if one suddenly gets into such strenuous and long physical exercise when your muscles are not primed, along with factors like poor nutrition and severe dehydration. A delay in treatment could have led to the boy suffering kidney and hepatic failure or permanent kidney damage," said Ganguly.