Sports Cardiology: Shaping the Future of Athletic Safety

Sports Cardiology: Shaping the Future of Athletic Safety

Sports is often made up of what we see in front of us: The game. The replay-worthy moves. The crowd going wild. However, behind the scenes, a group of people specializing in the field of sports cardiology are steadily changing the way we think about heart health in sports.

Sports cardiology studies how an athlete's heart works during the course of exercise and competition. Although a relatively new field, sports cardiology is rapidly growing due to its critical focus on providing specialized care to athletes.


One group intent on making a difference in the sports cardiology field is the Smart Heart Sports Coalition. The organization is bringing major professional sports leagues and patient and health advocacy groups to champion a special cause: For all 50 states to adopt evidence-based policies that will help prevent fatal outcomes from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) among high school students.


How so? Let's examine some of the key ways the Coalition is making a profound impact on the safety of young athletes:


Improved Heart Screening for Athletes

The Smart Heart Sports Coalition aims to increase the number of heart screenings to potentially catch any negative heart conditions proactively, prior to reaching a high level of risk. The organization is working closely with sports cardiologists to achieve this goal, ensuring all young athletes who require a heart screening can receive one.

 

Smarter Action Plans At High School Athletic Venues

When an athlete does have a heart problem during a high school game or practice, every second counts. It explains why the Smart Heart Sports Coalition is continually advocating for better emergency plans and the right equipment to help coaches, staff and other school officials act swiftly and with confidence during a cardiac emergency.


Speaking of the right equipment, the CoroMed School & Athletic Bundles are the ideal solution for this need as it includes an AED and training on how to use it.

 

Advocacy For Changing Laws On AEDs

Third, the Smart Heart Sports Coalition is regularly communicating with public officials who have the influence to create laws for each state regarding school athletic safety. These policies have the opportunity to make a dramatic impact on outcomes from Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

That said, the Smart Heart Sports Coalition isn't talking exclusively to lawmakers. It is the organization's mission to achieve three fundamental pieces of action at every high school:

 

  1. Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) for each high school athletic venue that are widely distributed, posted, rehearsed and updated annually

  2. Clearly marked automated external defibrillator (AEDs) at each athletic venue or within 1-3 minutes of each venue where high school practices or competitions are held.

  3. CPR and AED education for coaches

 

These vital steps can achieve phenomenal results:

Coaches can better identify the signs of heart problems. Athletes can feel comfortable speaking up if something doesn't feel right. Parents and fans can appreciate and understand the profound importance of heart health in sports.

In addition, the Smart Heart Sports Coalition is bringing together people from several different areas of sports and medicine, such as doctors in sports cardiology collaborating with doctors in sports medicine.


These advocates are making a real difference in helping schools obtain AEDs and learn how to use them. More athletes are receiving heart screenings before games and practices. And more people are talking about heart health in sports, which is never a bad thing.


Of course, there's still much work to do as we search for new ways to make sports and our young athletes safer. From new technologies to help detect heart problems earlier to examining different types of exercise that affect the heart to increased heart health education.


What can you do to help?


If you're involved in sports in any way - as an athlete, a coach, a parent or just a fan - start by learning more about heart health in sports. Ask your school administrators if they have AEDs and if people on staff know how to use them. If they don't, you might suggest the CoroMed School & Athletic Bundles for providing the equipment they need on site.


You can also write to your local lawmakers to let them know heart safety in sports is critical and that you support the kind of laws to protect young athletes. Every voice counts in advocacy.


Sports cardiology might sound complicated, but it's really about ensuring that young high school athletes can enjoy sports safely. Thanks to the hard work of advocates like the Smart Heart Sports Coalition, we're getting closer to that goal every day.

 

 

 

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