Iowa Team Doctor to Discuss Prevention of Muscle Condition

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Kyle Smoot

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Dr. Kyle Smoot, primary care team physician for the University of Iowa football team, will speak on the University of Arkansas campus Nov. 6 about a condition called exertional rhabdomyolysis that resulted in the hospitalization of 13 Iowa players in 2011.

Smoot has become an expert in the condition that results in muscle breakdown releasing proteins into the bloodstream that can cause kidney failure. Rhabdomyolysis has many possible causes, including trauma, many medicines and overexertion.

Smoot will also discuss sickle cell disease, which is associated with exertional rhabdomyolysis in athletes. His lecture from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, in Room 311 of the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Building is free and open to the public. The lecture is part of the athletic training education program’s biannual scholar lecture series.

Smoot will present the cluster of cases of exertional rhabdomyolysis experienced at Iowa as well as the subsequent search for the cause of the event and lessons learned in an effort to educate medical personnel, athletes and the general public about the condition.

Smoot, who earned a medical degree from Wright State University School of Medicine, is a clinical associate professor at Iowa and serves as program director of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Sports Medicine Fellowship Program. He was previously the team physician for the University of Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky University.

Smoot has additional research interest in concussion assessment tools and youth football injuries.

He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine and also holds a Certificate of Added Qualifications in Sports Medicine. He is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and the American College of Sports Medicine.