Sports causing Gout attack?

Well, it depends on what kinds of sport. I am talking about the kind of activities that is heavy enough to make you sweat, not the light one. In summary if you have already had gout/high uric acid, it could triggers an attack which makes your joint painful.

If you are interested in my experience, please read on.....

Introduction

To many people,  Gout attack and sport injury share similar symptoms. Both result in painful swollen joints, inflammation, and restrained physical mobility. That is why when many people having their first gout attack, they usually think it is an injury, either by sports or accidents. I remember when I got my first gout attack, I had the same thinking. When my big toe was swollen in the morning, I thought I was hurt somehow until the physician said it was a gout attack and the joint pain was not caused any other reason. 

My experience.

When I was diagnosed with gout, a friend of mine who also suffered from gout shared the Dos and Don’ts with me. One thing he told me was to drink a lot of water, especially after doing sports. His advice suggested that sports can trigger a gout attack. I took his advice in heart but did not ask for the reason. I just tried to drink as much as water as I can.

Recently, I had a furious basketball game with my colleagues and of course, I sweat a lot. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring water to the court and hence did not drink much water after the game. I started to worry if I could get an attack that night.  It didn't but a couple days later. As usual, I reviewed my diet during that period of time (before and after the attack). To my knowledge, it was pretty balanced as usual. Hence, the only one reason left in mind is the game without much water. I believe this is the cause for the attack.

Theory behind

The reason of sports could trigger gout attack is easy to understand. Gout attack is related to uric acid concentration in blood. When the uric acid concentration is high, it is easier for the purine to crystallize. So, even if we have a balanced diet, sweating can increase the chance of the attack. Therefore, to be exact, it is not the activities or sports that causing gout attack. It is the sweating, which dehydrates the body, pulling the trigger.

Conclusion

So, it is all about sweating! Therefore, please drink more water after sweating, especially if you do exercise, such as jogging regularly. You need to drink much more water than the others. This is a good for everyone, even people not having Gout.

To a regular person, it is a good advice to avoid any injury during sports by doing warm up and cool down. To a person having gout, there is one more advice and that is, try to avoid any injury after the sports as well. This can be done by drinking much more water!