Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of arrhythmia and is characterized by the heart beating very irregularly and, in most cases, very quickly. It is a cardiovascular disorder that has acquired some relevance because several elite athletes have suffered its effects. Lamarcus Aldridge, NBA basketball player, had to temporarily abandon his career due to atrial fibrillation. A few days ago, Welsh footballer Thomas Lockyer, captain of Luton, a Premier League team, collapsed in the middle of a match against Bournemouth and had to be urgently assisted.
Lockyer had undergone surgery last spring to correct the atrial fibrillation he suffered from and which caused him to collapse for the first time in May of this year when he was playing against Coventry in a match with promotion to the Premier League at stake. This type of arrhythmia can lead to blood clots in the heart and increases the risk of having a cerebrovascular problem, heart failure and other heart conditions. However, Lockyer explained after his first cardiovascular episode that “for two days I had a very bad time, but luckily it didn’t last too long. I never really felt in danger and I don’t think it was as bad as it seemed. I ended up in the hands of the same cardiologist who treated Eriksen and he cleared my doubts by telling me that he would play football again without problems.”
Dane Christian Eriksen suffered cardiac arrest while playing a Euro Cup match with his country. He was resuscitated and an automatic defibrillator was implanted, which has allowed him to play again. It is a small battery-powered device that is worn on your chest to monitor your heart rate and detect irregular heartbeats. This type of defibrillator delivers electrical impulses through one or more wires connected to the heart to correct abnormal heart rhythms. Patients need to have this device implanted when their heartbeats are dangerously fast (ventricular tachycardia) or are so irregular that they prevent the heart from pumping enough blood to the rest of the body (ventricular fibrillation).
During episodes of atrial fibrillation, the upper chambers of the heart, also called atria, beat chaotically and irregularly and do not act in sync with the lower chambers of the heart, called ventricles. In many people, atrial fibrillation may be asymptomatic. However, it can cause a fast, pounding heartbeat, shortness of breath, or feeling dizzy. These episodes may come and go or be persistent. In general, this heart problem is not life-threatening, but it is a serious disease that requires adequate treatment to prevent strokes.
The treatment of atrial fibrillation can be diverse and, depending on the case, includes the use of drugs, therapy with electrical shocks to the heart to restore normal heart rhythm, and cardiac ablation, which consists of a simple intervention with the aim of healing the tissue. of the heart and thus block the irregular electrical signals that cause atrial fibrillation. You can also resort to implanting a defibrillator.
Some research has established a relationship between sport and atrial fibrillation. Specifically, the results of some studies suggest that a high level of resistance sports training is associated with a greater risk of suffering from atrial fibrillation. José Manuel Coego has been a professional basketball player for more than twenty years, he played in the ACB league in Cáceres, and had to abandon his career due to an episode of arrhythmia. He explains that he “went in preseason, right after the pandemic. He was 44 years old and was going to play in LEB. In a friendly I noticed a dizziness and I was short of breath. I had to ask for change. Later, during a workout, I noticed how my heart was racing when I did intense exercise.”
He explains that the doctor told him that “it was not serious, that I was not going to die from it and that I could continue playing, but shortly after, in a match in Albacete, I had another more serious episode and they gave me two solutions: either some pills for life or a simple operation.” He underwent a first cardiac ablation procedure, not without some problems. “We had to do a catheterization, but they didn’t have the necessary size for my 2.05 meter height. “I took on this intervention without fear.”
Then he decided to abandon professionalism. “It was time to leave my career and play in a lower category. I started training and playing with my friends at La Salle Bonanova White, but after a few months I had a second episode. The heart rate skyrocketed and there was no way to control it. The doctor told me that they had to stop my heart to ‘reset’ it. This is something more serious. They did and I underwent a second operation, this time on the right side of the heart.” He acknowledges that this second scare has left him certain doubts. “I am not afraid, but I do respect. I have come to think that my heart problems have been consequences of COVID-19. My passion is basketball and I want to continue playing, but I need to be mentally safe because I know that the arrhythmia can repeat itself.”
The same thing happened to Lamarcus Aldridge, a very outstanding NBA player, who has played 16 seasons in the best league in the world, and who in 2021, when he was a Brooklyn Nets player, felt his heart race in the middle of the game against Los Angeles Lakers. He played with an irregular heart rate. After the game he got worse. Aldridge confessed that “what I felt that night in my heart was one of the most terrifying experiences I have ever had.” In just a few months he was discharged and rejoined the NBA until his retirement in 2023.
There are cases in which the relationship between sport and arrhythmia is very evident. Pablo González is an amateur athlete who has already undergone three operations and who continues to suffer from arrhythmias when he practices high-intensity sports. He details that “the first time it happened to me playing soccer. I had a feeling of exhaustion and I had a lack of breathing capacity, but I did not associate these symptoms with possible heart problems.” It was by chance that doctors discovered that he was suffering from episodes of atrial fibrillation. “They did a heart ultrasound for another health issue and they realized that at that time he was having fibrillation. It wasn’t tachycardia. “It was an irregular heartbeat.”
Pablo has already undergone surgery three times, but the doctors still have not found the solution. “The first operation did not go well and the second it seemed that he had hit the target, but the episodes recurred. It is about finding the exact point where these episodes begin, but it is not easy. In the third, the strategy was to provoke fibrillation in order to locate the starting point, but it also failed.”
Now he has naturally assumed these moments of fibrillation that, in his case, are totally associated with sports practice. “When I make a continuous effort of a certain intensity, the symptoms begin, but I continue playing the paddle tennis game or I don’t get off the bike, although I reduce the intensity and try to maintain a very stable pace.” She adds that “sleeping is the therapy that works best for me. Recovery occurs between 12 and 24 hours” and he confesses that “one of the most peculiar sensations is that now I notice the heart. It is an organ that you normally do not notice and now when an arrhythmia occurs you physically feel it.”
Eli Friedman, medical director of sports cardiology at Miami Cardiac
