Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Utah Tech University Athletics

Sports Medicine - Sickle Cell Information

Return to Sports Medicine Home Page

Sickle Cell Trait Information

As a student-athlete at Dixie State University, you are required to read and sign a form regarding Sickle Cell Trait.  There is information and video links about Sickle Cell Trait located below.  If you have any other questions or concerns, please contact a member of the DSU Sports Medicine Team.

Sickle Cell Trait (SCT) is the inheritance of an abnormal gene which can cause deformation (“sickling”) of the red blood cells.  During intense exercise, hypoxia (lack of oxygen) in the muscles may cause sickling of red blood cells.  Red blood cell changing from a normal disc shape to a crescent or “sickle” shape, which can accumulate in the blood stream and block blood vessels, leading to collapse from the rapid breakdown of muscles starved of blood and possible death.  Over a seven year span, nine athletes participating in NCAA sports died as a complication of sickle cell trait.

Listed below, are three videos sponsored by the NCAA that gives a more in depth explanation about Sickle Cell Trait and the student-athlete. 

Video 1
Sickle Cell Trait and the Student-Athlete Video


Video 2
Sickle Cell Trait and the Student-Athlete Video: Part II


Video 3
The Student-Athlete with the Sickle Cell Trait




Return to Sports Medicine Home Page