Hello CrossFitters from all over the world. In a few days The Games will start and all this hard work and skill work will soon pay off for a lucky few. To those who do not finish in the top 3 it is still quite an honor to be listed and participate at The Games. I will be heading out to Cali on the Medical Team. Hopefully my days will be filled with blisters and muscle soreness. I just received the medical guideline book which looks like a combination Emergency Room residency manual and a combat readiness guide.  From a medical point of view there are a few things to take into consideration as these are The CrossFit Games and not the sidelines of a college football game.

CALIFORNIA IN JULY. The heat combined with this type of exertion can cause something called heat stroke where your body starts to lose its cooling mechanism and you stop sweating as your body temp climbs. Mental status changes and hypotension can occur. If anyone shows these signs, they need to be cooled back to normal and removed from competition.

We will be ready with tape, bandages, and moleskin for the inevitable hand rips that will occur that can be devastating for grip WODs.

Other common issues that will pop up will be asthma treatment, sprains and strains, sunburns (probably more likely from the spectators in the Bier Garden). Hopefully nothing will limit the athletes from competing and there will be nothing eventful or controversial about when to take someone out of competition voluntarily or involuntarily.

This is CrossFit and the unknown can be fun to watch but can be tricky for medical personnel to cover and deal with. There are heavy weights being thrown around at high velocities, ropes with fatigued bodies being climbed or held onto precariously, swims from some athletes that may not be “Strong swimmers”. We have seen shoulder dislocations, achilles tears, ruptured eardrums.  There is always the risk of rhabdomyolysis which can hit anyone anytime, no matter what fitness level you have achieved. I don’t mean to scare or upset, but when this type of energy arrives with crazy screaming fans cheering people on beyond their physical capacity, anything can happen…. And I can’t wait to see it. Good luck to all competitors and Tear It Up- (just not your hands).