All members of the Tufts men’s lacrosse team who were admitted to the hospital with a rare muscle condition after a 45-minute team workout last week have been discharged, the university announced Wednesday.
“We want to express how grateful we are that the team members have returned to good health. We commend the team’s resilience, admire how they cared for one another during a difficult time, and thank their families for their unwavering support,” University President Sunil Kumar, School of Arts and Sciences Dean ad interim Barbara Brizuela and School of Engineering Dean Kyongbum Lee wrote in an email to the university.
The voluntary, supervised workout on Sept. 16 was led by a Tufts alumnus and a recent graduate of the BUD/S, or Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL, a Navy SEAL training program.. Out of the approximately 50 team members who participated in the exercise, 12 were diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis after it finished, Patrick Collins, Tufts’ executive director of media relations, wrote in the university’s original Sept. 20 statement. Of those athletes, nine players were hospitalized, with three remaining as of Monday.
Rhabdomyolysis can lead to permanent disability or even death. It occurs when muscle tissue breaks down and releases a protein called myoglobin into the blood, which can severely damage kidneys. The disease can be caused by a number of factors, including physical overexertion over a short period of time. Symptoms include muscle weakness and soreness, discolored urine, nausea and fever. Rhabdomyolysis is often treated via an IV drip to correct the body’s urine production and prevent kidney failure.
In their email to the university, Kumar, Brizuela and Lee gave further details on the external investigation into the workout, announcing that Tufts has retained the services of D. Rod Walters II and Randy Aliment to lead the investigation.
“We will give Dr. Walters and Mr. Aliment all the time and information they need to carry out a thorough investigation, and we anticipate it will take some time,” the administrators wrote. “We will share the findings with the community once the investigation has concluded.”
Walters was a collegiate athletic trainer before becoming a consultant on sports injury in 2007, and now runs a sports medicine consulting firm based in Columbia, S.C. He has worked with both the NFL and MLB, and conducted major investigations on similar sports controversies at the University of Maryland and Garden City Community College in Kansas.
In the University of Maryland case, Walters received national attention for investigating the death of a former offensive lineman for the Maryland Terrapins football team who died two weeks after being hospitalized with heatstroke during an outdoor team workout. Walters’ report determined that trainers failed to identify signs of heat illness and did not take sufficient measures to lower the athlete’s elevated core temperature. After the investigation concluded, the team’s head coach was fired.
Aliment is a partner in the Seattle office of law firm Lewis Brisbois, focusing on commercial litigation and the higher education and sports industries. He has conducted internal investigations for universities in anticipation of legal exposure and overseen assessments of collegiate athlete wellbeing.
In their statement, Kumar, Brizuela and Lee acknowledged the frustration of the Tufts community about the lack of details surrounding the workout that led to the players’ hospitalization.
“We know you have lots of questions. Frankly, we do as well,” the administrators wrote. “However, we are following investigative best practices by refraining from making public statements to avoid unintentionally influencing the direction of the independent investigation.”
The Tufts men’s lacrosse team has historically enjoyed a high degree of success, winning its fourth Division III national championship last spring by defeating the Rochester Institute of Technology 18–14.
