Players having heart attacks

[TBM]

Ex-Italy under-21 footballer Piermario Morosini has died following a suspected heart attack on the pitch, football officials say.

The midfielder was playing for Livorno in the Serie B match at Pescara when he fell to the ground in the 31st minute.
A defibrillator was used and Morosini, 25, was taken to hospital. The game was halted with other players in tears.
All league games in Italy this weekend have been called off following Morosini's death.

Morosini had been on loan to Livorno from the Serie A club Udinese.

He collapsed face down and appeared to be in convulsion. The referee's assistant drew the referee's attention and he stopped the game.

The footballer was taken to Pescara's Santo Spirito hospital by ambulance, but he could not be revived.

Why are so many, supposedly fit players having heart attacks?!

[AthleticoSpizz]

They are always having them (just look at any non league website or newspaper any Sunday morning), not all are fat smoking hungover part timers.

Tragic, but not as rare as you think

[RobRoyal]

If it's as with Fabrice Muamba: when we exercise regularly the muscle around the heart strengthens. Some rare congenital conditions mean that this strengthening goes on too far and ultimately in very fit people the muscle begins to constrict blood flow to the heart, causing cardiac arrest and possible heart attack.

(I'm no doctor so the above could be wrong in detail, but it's basically right I think)

[shadesrwrf]

Possibly similar to the guy who died in the marathon. He was a regular runner and pretty fit. He died of a heart condition which, as I understand, is difficult to diagnose and usually only detected once it's too late, i.e. the person's dropped down dead.

[cmonurz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7lhs9cJ83E

Jesus, needless to say this is horrible.

[Blue Hooped Moose]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7lhs9cJ83E

Jesus, needless to say this is horrible.

That's quite horrific - in fact, probably the most disturbing thing I've seen on the intertubez.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

It doesn't help that intense exercise (i.e. marathon/triathlon and I guess footballers would count) actually damages the heart.

One recent (small) study showed that ~50% of endurance athletes have permenantly damaged their hearts


....so do these even need to be congenital defects, rather than just general heart damage caused by too much exercise/strain?
In that study, the damage they'd done only showed-up if you got them to do the intense exercise, so again its almost impossible to spot

[Royal With Cheese]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7lhs9cJ83E

Jesus, needless to say this is horrible.

That's very disturbing. I'm surprised this is still on youtue to be honest.

Very, very uncomfortable watching.

[ZacNaloen]

It doesn't help that intense exercise (i.e. marathon/triathlon and I guess footballers would count) actually damages the heart.

One recent (small) study showed that ~50% of endurance athletes have permenantly damaged their hearts


....so do these even need to be congenital defects, rather than just general heart damage caused by too much exercise/strain?
In that study, the damage they'd done only showed-up if you got them to do the intense exercise, so again its almost impossible to spot

Don't they do the test by getting them to run on a treadmill?

Or is that just on house...

[Stuka]

I reckon athletes in general live shorter lives for all the pressure they put on their bodies.

I have absolutely no way to back this up.

[Elliott]

How the hell is that still on youtube?

[Elliott]

It really is disturbing.

I think I read both his parents died when he was in his teens, then his brother committed suicide and he only had a sister remaining. Truly very sad.

RIP.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17727031

Very sad stuff.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

It doesn't help that intense exercise (i.e. marathon/triathlon and I guess footballers would count) actually damages the heart.

One recent (small) study showed that ~50% of endurance athletes have permenantly damaged their hearts


....so do these even need to be congenital defects, rather than just general heart damage caused by too much exercise/strain?
In that study, the damage they'd done only showed-up if you got them to do the intense exercise, so again its almost impossible to spot

Don't they do the test by getting them to run on a treadmill?

Or is that just on house...

Yes, use a treadmill !

[Maguire]

How the hell is that still on youtube?

I've seen video of Feher dying on YouTube before, it's not without precedent. Likewise the Indy crash that killed Dan what's his face and the wheel hitting Surtees' son and killing him.

[royalsroyalsroyals92]

Ex-Italy under-21 footballer Piermario Morosini has died following a suspected heart attack on the pitch, football officials say.

The midfielder was playing for Livorno in the Serie B match at Pescara when he fell to the ground in the 31st minute.
A defibrillator was used and Morosini, 25, was taken to hospital. The game was halted with other players in tears.
All league games in Italy this weekend have been called off following Morosini's death.

Morosini had been on loan to Livorno from the Serie A club Udinese.

He collapsed face down and appeared to be in convulsion. The referee's assistant drew the referee's attention and he stopped the game.

The footballer was taken to Pescara's Santo Spirito hospital by ambulance, but he could not be revived.

Why are so many, supposedly fit players having heart attacks?!

Certain conditions can affect the heart, and the common one for sports men and women increases the layer of stuff (i don't know the technical terms) around the heart, weakening the heart, meaning the players hearts are in effect a lot older than they are

[Jerry St Clair]

They are always having them (just look at any non league website or newspaper any Sunday morning), not all are fat smoking hungover part timers.

Tragic, but not as rare as you think

Fairly rare in the English league. I remember David Longhurst of York dying in the late 80s, but don't recall any between that and Vivian Foe a few years ago.

[Wax Jacket]

read an article about this recently in a stats paper which looked at heart attacks during Marathons and (IIRC) there's a condition that up to 10% of people have in which the walls lining the heart are basically to thin to withstand extreme exertion and can go if put under too much pressure, which becomes one of the things that you bracket under Sudden Death Sundrome. as noted above, you only really know it's there when you drop dead. and it's only people doing Marathons etc who really expose themselves to that level of exertion.

of all the cardiac conditions to die of I'd rather cop it as a runner than a heavy smoker/drinker etc

[John Madejski's Wallet]

of all the cardiac conditions to die of I'd rather cop it as a runner than a heavy smoker/drinker etc

Reverse for me tbh.

Heart attack after years of debauchery >>>>>>> Heart attack after years of intense training and living like a monk

[Wax Jacket]

you can combine both. my post-training sessions tended to average out at about a pint for every 2.5 miles run.

[cmonurz]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17908737

And another….

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17908737

Much to the horror of a Norwegian colleague, Norway’s 100m breast stroke world champion has suffered a cardiac arrest and died aged 26.