An active naval stamp that led to an exhaustive workout for the Lacros team of men at Tufts University last year that led to nine students’ hospitalization does not seem to be suitable for this role, according to a review assigned by the university.
Twenty -four of the 61 students participating in voluntary training developed rhabdomyolysis, also known as Rhabdo, a serious and somewhat rare muscle condition, the review said.
The president and sports director of Tufts, who won the men’s Lacrosse Championships Division III a few months before the September 2024 training session, acknowledged in a statement on Friday that the meeting was not appropriate.
“We would like to expand our sincere apology to the members of the men’s Lacros team, their families and others affected by this situation,” said Sunil Kumar, university president and John Morris, Director of Sport.
The university, in Medford, Mass, in addition to Boston, refused to name the seafaring Seal involved in the exercise scheme, in addition to saying that he had recently graduated from Tufts and was responsible for the Lacrosse team.
He did not work with two independent researchers who prepared the report, according to his executive summary.
“From our own knowledge, the third who led to the training of the seal workout had no credentials that identified him to design, drive or supervise team exercises,” the summary said.
The review was carried out by Rod Walters, a sports medicine adviser and Randy J. Aliment, a lawyer specializing in internal investigations into universities and assessments of the safety and health of students.
The Naval Special War order, which oversees the Seal program, did not immediately respond to comments on Friday.
At the time of the episode, a spokesman for the command said the stamp was not in Tufts as part of an event approved by the Navy and was not clear whether the sailor would face any disciplinary action.
During the 75 -minute training, Lacrosse players and two other students made a series of repetitions that focused almost exclusively on the upper extremities, including about 250 burpees, according to the review.
Popular with military and crossfit gyms, burpees can quickly include downstream, jumping on a board, running a push, jumping forward in a seizure and jumping back to a stop. But they have also been accused of causing injuries when they are incorrectly or later.
The review found that the University’s sports director approved the training plan on the same day that he received it from the Navy Seal and did not share it with others in the sports department in advance.
The Director of Sports Performance, who was not named in the review, wrote the plan in his staff about an hour before the students started training.
In the report, the researchers found that the seal of the Navy that led to education was not familiar with the NCAA policies and regulations and did not follow the principles of acclimatization necessary to avoid injuries during training.
The review also violated the University for its response to the situation, saying that there were no policies or procedures for the transfer of students to and from hospitals or the direction of medical care.
About 40 % of the students who participated in the training meetings completed the exercises, but the majority had to modify the routine because of its difficulty, according to the executive summary of the report.
“Until the next morning, students began to experience adverse effects and reported to the team’s sports trainer,” the researchers wrote. “Two days later, several cases of exercise rhabdomyolysis were found.”
High -intensity workouts can cause rhabdo, as well as trauma like a car accident or a fall, medical experts say. It involves injuries to skeletal muscles, leading the muscles to die and release their content into the bloodstream.
Although Rhabdo is an unusual condition that affects about 26,000 people a year in the United States, according to Cleveland’s clinic, it may be life -threatening.
In 2011, 13 players at the University of Iowa were hospitalized with Rhabdo when the team jumped back into training after some time after a bowl game. In recent years there have been reports of a women’s football team in Texas suffering from Rhabdo, who left a hospital player.
The guidelines developed several years ago by the NCAA aimed at preventing Rhabdo stated that College athletes should be given “transition periods” after a training break or new members in a group.
During the transitional periods, NCAA recommends, sports trainers and coaches should ensure that the intensity and volume of activity is gradually increasing over time.
Sarah Rumberg They contributed reports.
