Glad they restored his heartbeat on field -- go EMTs! Seriously. I have a cousin who collapsed from cardiac arrest in a 7-11 and an off-duty EMT was able to restore his heartbeat. Incredible people and makes me think more of us should sign up for the basic training sessions they give to plebes. Dumb question time: why doesn't this happen to boxers all the damned time? Sharp impact around the heart at just the wrong time of the heartbeat. ... And boxers just get pummeled hundreds of times in a match.
My first thought was Rugby. Insanely big, strong and fast dudes colliding with no protection. Does it happen in that sport?
I had never heard about this, but it sounds a little different. A shot to the ribcage did some heart damage, but it didn't cause arrest. Stallone was in the ICU for over a week with something like a swollen heart. Pretty crazy.
Looking back at the footage, Stallone says the punch that did all the damage was an uppercut, which “caught the ribs and hit the heart against the ribcage.” The doctors told the actor that type of injury usually occurred in head-on collisions. Stallone quipped, “I said, ‘Close. I did hit a bus, of sorts.'”
Anything is possible...but I will say, if the hit is what stopped his heart, he needs to never play football again. That was not a very hard hit by football standards. I'm thinking he had to have had some other conditions at play that he was simply unaware of. Either way, doesn't matter, the important thing is that he makes as full a recovery as possible.
Paradoxically the pads IMO are part of the problem. The pads and the helmet don't really help the person being hit nearly as much as the person hitting them....and they encourage MUCH harder hits. Give me pads and a helmet and I'll absolutely de-cleat the guy with the ball without a second thought....take those pads and the helmet away and I won't even attempt to hit them that hard.....it would hurt me too much.
Following up on the Rugby comment, I've looked into it a bit, there are some cases of Rugby players dropping dead due to normal intensity hits to the chest In those instances it was suggested that myocarditis increased the risk of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias caused by blunt impact to the chest. That would kind of explain how a player could end up like that after a relatively mild hit to the chest, assuming he was dealing with myocarditis which has become increasingly common these days.
I don't see how they don't play this game.... There were a ton of playoff implications for each team. Are they really going to be ok with gifting Kansas City the #1 overall seed?
I'm not sure they care much about football right now. They just saw a player have a heart attack on the field as a result of a routine hit to the chest. I'm sure even if they don't care about that guy....and I guarantee you they do care about him, they are more than a little bit shaken up at the prospect of themselves potentially dying on the field due to a weak hit to the chest.
Give playoff teams a bye week while they make up this game in "week 19." Then eliminate the extra week before the Super Bowl this year.
That is pretty heartless. Taking a hit from a 6-4 220lbs guy coming at full speed is going to take a toll on anyones body.
It's something that happens 30+ times per game. I've literally taken those kinds of hits, they hurt but they don't stop your heart unless there's something wrong with your heart. I think it's pretty clear there was more going on here and while I obviously wish him a speedy recovery, I can't see how there's any way he could justify risking playing football ever again.
Not a doctor but from what I’ve been reading the timing, impact, and location all contributed to Hamlin’s heart stopping instead of a preexisting condition. Now if Hamlin has a preexisting condition and it could happen again then 100% he should retire.
