Exercise-induced hematuria

I decided to write a section on this because this actually happened to me personally! After two of my races this year I found blood in my urine and it really scared me. I went to the doctor for it and she told me not to worry because it's not uncommon; it's something called exercise-induced hematuria.

Exercise is the one of the many causes of hematuria. Exercise-induced hematuria can be defined as gross or microscopic hematuria that occurs after strenuous exercise and resolves with rest in individuals with no apparent underlying urinary tract pathology. Hematuria has been found after contact sports, such as football and boxing, and non-contact sports, such as long-distance running, rowing, and swimming. 

There was a study done on hematuria of 45 male and female marathon participants. After the race 24% had hematuria. Direct trauma to the kidneys and/or bladder may be responsible for the hematuria associated with contact sports. In distance running, trauma to the bladder may occur due to the flaccid wall of the bladder against the bladder base. A near empty bladder increase that possibility. Exercise-induced hematuria appears to be a benign condition with no known long-term morbidity.