The CK value is a muscle marker, it gives the doctor an indication of whether there is increased muscle breakdown in the body. A well-trained, muscular man inherently has a higher reference value than a delicate woman or an elderly person whose muscle mass has already significantly reduced. We very often find an increased CK value if we have been training hard or have been careless and get a bruise during a soccer game or skiing, for example. The value can rise to four times the usual limit value. To be on the safe side, it would be advisable to check the value again after a week; the harmless sport-related value usually drops significantly after a few days.
If muscle pain or weakness occurs over a long period of time, your doctor will take a detailed medical history. He will inquire about the medications you are taking and ask about your family history. If the breakdown product “myoglobin” has to be excreted in the urine to a greater extent over a long period of time due to the destruction of muscle tissue, it can “clog” the delicate kidney vessels and damage their function. It is important that you drink a lot, especially after exercising, in order to flush your kidneys thoroughly. So if your CK value has not exceeded the limit value extremely, I am not surprised that your GP is not really worried about it. In very rare cases, however, in which the limit value is exceeded by far over a long period of time, a detailed examination is necessary, as a drug or hormonal cause or an autoimmune disease could be behind it. Ask your doctor again for his assessment and whether he considers a clarification to be useful.
Do you have any questions about health?
Write OÖN doctor Johannes Neuhofer (dermatologist), who is in charge of this column with a team of doctors: Clemens Steinwender (cardiologist), Reinhold Függer (surgeon), Rainer Schöfl (gastroenterologist), Josef Hochreiter (orthopedist), Werner Schöny (psychiatrist).
E-mail: doktor@nachrichten.at
Source: Nachrichten
