A myoglobin test measures the amount of myoglobin, a protein found in your skeletal and heart muscles, in your blood or urine. High levels generally indicate muscle damage; though, the test cannot determine the cause or location of the muscle damage.
A myoglobin test measures the amount of myoglobin, a protein found in your skeletal muscles (the muscles attached to your tendons and bones) and heart muscles, in your blood or urine (pee).
Healthcare providers may use a myoglobin blood test to detect muscle damage. When your heart or skeletal muscles experience an injury, your muscle cells release myoglobin into your bloodstream. The level of myoglobin in your blood can rise very quickly with severe muscle damage, and healthcare providers typically measure it within a few hours following an injury.
Your kidneys filter out myoglobin from your blood and release it into your urine. Healthcare providers sometimes use a urine test to evaluate myoglobin levels if you’ve had extensive damage to your skeletal muscles (rhabdomyolysis). Urine myoglobin levels reflect the degree of muscle injury — the more myoglobin in your urine, the more severe the injury. Since myoglobin is toxic to your kidneys, a urine test can also assess the risk of kidney damage.
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Myoglobin is a protein that’s found in your striated muscles, which includes skeletal muscles (the muscles attached to your bones and tendons) and heart muscles. Its main function is to supply oxygen to the cells in your muscles (myocytes).
All cells in your body need oxygen in order to function. They use oxygen to convert stored energy. Your skeletal muscles and heart muscles require a lot of oxygen and energy due to their constant use.
While both myoglobin and hemoglobin are responsible for carrying oxygen to certain tissues, they have different functions.
Hemoglobin is a protein found in red blood cells that gives those cells their red color. Its main function is to carry oxygen from your lungs to the rest of the cells in the tissues and organs of your body.
Myoglobin is mainly present in your striated muscles (the kind of muscles that you consciously move, like your arm and leg muscles), whereas hemoglobin is found in your bloodstream. Myoglobin only enters your bloodstream if you experience muscle damage. Like hemoglobin, myoglobin is the reason your muscle tissues have a reddish hue.
Your healthcare provider may order a myoglobin blood test if you’re experiencing symptoms of severe damage to your muscles, such as from accidents that result in muscle trauma, or muscular dystrophy.
Symptoms of muscle injury or damage include:
While healthcare providers have used myoglobin blood tests along with troponin tests to help detect a heart attack early in the past, they now use myoglobin testing less frequently for this purpose. More recent studies have revealed that newer markers, such as troponin, are better for detecting heart attacks.
Your healthcare provider may order a urine myoglobin test if you have extensive damage to your skeletal muscles, resulting in the rapid breakdown of muscle (rhabdomyolysis), and if they suspect that you may have damage to your kidneys from excess myoglobin.
Your healthcare provider may also order either test if you have acute kidney failure without any clear cause.
A healthcare provider called a phlebotomist usually performs blood draws, which include those for a myoglobin blood test, but any healthcare provider who is trained in drawing blood can perform this task. They then send the samples to a lab where a medical laboratory scientist prepares the samples and performs the tests on machines known as analyzers.
If your healthcare provider has ordered a urine myoglobin test, you can perform the procedure using the “clean catch” method to collect a urine sample. In some cases, your provider may insert a catheter into your urethra to collect a urine sample.
There are no special preparations for a myoglobin blood test or urine test.
There are different processes for a urine myoglobin test and a blood myoglobin test.
You can expect to experience the following during a myoglobin blood test, or blood draw:
The entire procedure usually takes fewer than five minutes.
In most cases, you’ll perform a myoglobin urine test using the “clean catch” method, which is intended to help prevent contamination of your urine sample with cells from your genitals. You or your healthcare provider can also collect a urine sample using a catheter.
For the clean catch method, your provider will give you a specimen cup, sterile wipes and specific instructions for collecting your urine sample. Your healthcare provider will tell you what to do with your urine sample after you’ve collected it. It’s important to wash your hands with soap and water before you collect the sample.
If you have a labia, use the following steps to get a clean catch urine sample:
If you have a penis, use the following steps to get a clean catch urine sample:
After your healthcare provider has collected your blood sample, they’ll send it to a laboratory for testing. Once the test results are back, your healthcare provider will share the results with you.
Once you have collected your urine sample, your healthcare provider may examine the sample immediately and run tests on it. Many urine tests provide results within seconds or minutes. If your urine sample needs to be examined under a microscope, your healthcare provider will likely send it to a laboratory for testing.
Blood tests are a very common and essential part of medical testing and screening. There’s very little risk to having blood tests. You may have slight tenderness or a bruise at the site of the blood draw, but this usually resolves quickly.
The clean catch method of urine sample collecting for a urine myoglobin test doesn’t have any risks. It’s a painless and non-invasive test. If you or your healthcare provider use a catheter to collect a urine sample, though, there’s a risk of infection. It may also cause pain or discomfort.
Since healthcare providers usually order myoglobin tests for extreme or emergency situations, such as extensive muscle trauma or heart attacks, they’ll likely have the test results within minutes or hours.
If you’re getting a myoglobin test as a part of routine testing, such as to monitor a chronic muscular condition, you’ll likely get your test results back within one to two days, though it could take longer.
Blood and urine test reports, including myoglobin blood and urine test reports, usually provide the following information:
Normal ranges for myoglobin blood tests can vary slightly from lab to lab. Always check the given reference range on your lab report test results. In general, though, the normal myoglobin ranges are:
Myoglobin is normally very low or undetectable in urine. A normal myoglobin urine result is sometimes reported as “negative.”
Elevated levels of myoglobin in your blood or urine have slightly different indications. While high myoglobin levels can indicate muscle or heart damage, the test cannot diagnose the cause of the damage or where it’s occurring in your body.
Having elevated levels of myoglobin in your blood usually indicates that you’ve experienced very recent skeletal muscle or heart muscle damage. The following situations or conditions can result in elevated levels of myoglobin in your blood:
Very high levels of myoglobin in your blood may be due to rhabdomyolysis, a condition that involves a rapid breakdown of muscle tissue. Rhabdomyolysis can be caused by a serious injury to your muscles from several different sources, including:
Rhabdomyolysis can lead to damage to your kidneys and needs to be treated in a hospital.
If you have high levels of myoglobin in your urine, it usually indicates that you have extensive damage to your skeletal muscles, resulting in the rapid breakdown of muscle (rhabdomyolysis).
The higher the myoglobin level in your urine, the more at risk you are for kidney damage since myoglobin is toxic to your kidneys. If you have high amounts of myoglobin in your urine, your healthcare provider will provide treatment to try to minimize kidney damage.
As the normal reference range for myoglobin blood levels begins at zero, having “low” myoglobin levels has no medical significance. Similarly, normal urine has no or very small amounts of myoglobin.
If you’re experiencing symptoms of extensive muscle damage, such as intense muscle pain, fever and/or vomiting, it’s important to call your healthcare provider or go to the nearest hospital.
If you’re experiencing symptoms of a heart attack, such as chest pain and feeling lightheaded, call 911.
A note from Cleveland Clinic
Seeing an abnormal test result can be stressful, but know that having an elevated myoglobin level doesn’t necessarily mean you have a medical condition and need treatment. Your healthcare provider will let you know if you need to undergo further tests to determine the cause of the elevated level. Don’t be afraid to ask your healthcare provider questions. They’re there to help you.
Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 11/24/2021.
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Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy