Blood in Urine after Running

Blood in urine after running is mostly observed amongst athletes, not only runners but players of other sports like cross-country, boxing, field hockey, and bicycling. A study also says that more than 90% of runners suffer from this condition after running the marathon race.

Hematuria can be a prime symptom of several underlying health related issues. Bloody urine is most often accompanied with lower abdominal pain and sometimes blood clots in the urine as well. This condition often clears, within two to three days when the persons rests a bit.

Hematuria is the most common cause. This is classified into two types as microscopic hematuria and macroscopic hematuria. Microscopic hematuria is the presence of very small amounts of blood that is only visible through a microscope. 

Mostly, it is not caused due to any serious disease, as microscopic hematuria can be found in the urine of healthy people as well. Still, there are several kidney diseases that hold this to be the prime symptom.

While blood in urine after exercise and running can be called a type of macroscopic hematuria, which is signified as pink to red colored urine that is sometimes observed with clots as well. These are the red blood cells that are sometimes also accompanied with white blood cells.

Hematuria is often exercise related and sometimes the blood can also come directly from the kidney. The exact reason for this is not known, but it can be concluded that, due to rigorous exercise the blood cells are leaked (which is a reversible process). 

This takes all the blood away from kidney and causes blood in urine after running and exercising. Here are the possible reasons behind this. (or microscopic and macroscopic hematuria).

• Thin Basement Membrane Disease: It is also called benign familial hematuria, which is caused by thinning of the basement membrane of kidney glomeruli.

• Bladder Cancer: Kidney cancer affects the lining of the proximal renal tubule.
• Urinary Tract Infection: Bacterial or several other kinds of infections can be behind the urinary tract infection.

• Kidney Diseases: There are several kinds of diseases that can damage proper functioning of the kidneys.
• Nephritic Syndrome: This disease is characterized by small pores that are found on the podocytes present in the kidney glomerulus.

As I said earlier, blood in urine after running can fade away without any treatment, with the help of a little rest from the exercising routine. Which means this problem can be cured within 2 to 3 days without much effort.

However, if the symptoms still persist after a rest of a few days and are accompanied with severe lower abdominal pain and blood clots, for more than two days, it is time to go and see a nephrologist.

He/she is the one who will perform several diagnostic tests to decide the causes by taking proper case history of the patient and several other tests like x-ray, CT scan, and ultrasound of the renal tract.

The treatment will be performed as per the exact cause. Infection and other such causes can be treated with mere antibiotics, if there are any stones, then cystoscopy and or biopsy can be performed. Surgery is also an option that can be performed.

As already stated, blood in urine after running can be treated without any significant treatment, but it is always in your best interests to get the symptoms diagnosed, rather than waiting for the cause of concern to get aggravated. Take care!

Disclaimer: This post is for informative purposes only, and should not be used as a replacement for expert medical advice.