Young Athletes and Cardiac Events

Over the past two years (2021 and 2022), more than 1,650 professional and amateur athletes have collapsed due to a cardiac event and 1,148 of them were fatal.  Recently, Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on live television during a game.  A condition called commotio cordis is known to cause cardia events in baseball when a players is hit dead on in the sternum with a fast moving baseball.  This occurs 20-30 x per year in baseball.  It has never been reported to have occurred in football.   Cardiac doctors interviewed over the Damar Hamlin incident feel that commotio cordis can be ruled out as the cause of heart failure.  The most typical cause of cardiac arrest in athletes is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.  This condition is an abnormal thickening of the heart muscle.  Another issue that can lead to cardiac arrest in athletes is the adrenaline rush.  During exercise or a sporting event, the body’s stress hormone adrenaline is pumping.  If that particular athlete has some degree of unknown heart damage, the adrenaline rush can trigger cardiac arrest.  Sadly, this adrenaline rush cardiac event not only effects athletes with damaged heart tissue, but it can effect anyone with damaged heart tissue and explains why a lot of cardiac events occur during a persons sleep.  The body releases adrenalin during a normal nights sleep between 3 am and 6pm.  Why the sudden increase in athlete related cardiac arrest?  Researchers have reported on the link between myocarditis in young people after receiving the covid-19 vaccine.  Myocarditis is an Inflammation of the middle layer of the heart wall.  Myocarditis can weaken the heart, which can lead to heart failure, abnormal heartbeat, and sudden death.  The current hypothesis is that undetected myocarditis in conjunction with athletic adrenaline rush, could be a possible cause of the increase in athletes collapsing on the field.  The Journal of the American Medical Association reported on the link between myocarditis and covid vaccination in their research paper titled, Myocarditis Cases Reported After mRNA-Based COVID-19 Vaccination in the US From December 2020 to August 2021.

Speaking of covid-19, there is a new variant making the rounds.  This variant, called XBB.1.5  has been named the “Kraken Variant,” Named after the legendary sea monster that could not be defeated.  I am guessing the name Kraken was chosen to scare the general public about the chances of catching covid.   The good news is while this variant is more transmissible, it causes milder illness than the other variants with most people only experiencing only mild cold symptoms.

One last covid item:   The CDC and the FDA announced last week that they are investigating a possible link between the Pfizer bivalent MRNA Comirnaty Covid Biologic vaccine and the increased incidence of stroke among people over the age of 65.  Data from the CDC vaccine safety datalink uncovered a “safety signal,” suggesting those in that age group are more likely to suffer a stroke 21 days after getting the vaccination.

Turmeric is the spice that gives curry its yellow color.  It has been used in India for thousands of years as both a spice and medicinal herb. Recently, science has started to back up traditional claims that turmeric contains compounds with medicinal properties. These compounds are called curcuminoids. The most important one is curcumin. Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric. It has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant.  Turmeric contains curcumin, a substance with powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Most studies use turmeric extracts that are standardized to include large amounts of curcumin.  Chronic inflammation contributes to some common health conditions. Curcumin can suppress many molecules known to play major roles in inflammation.  Curcumin boosts levels of the brain hormone BDNF, which increases the growth of new neurons and may help fight various degenerative processes in your brain.

Benefits of eating ginger root:  People typically use fresh or dried ginger in cooking or herbal tea, and some take ginger supplements for their possible health benefits.  Ginger root comes from the Zingiber officinale plant, and it has been used in Chinese and Indian medicine  thousands of years. Ginger may help relieve nausea and vomiting and aid digestion. Antioxidants and other nutrients in ginger root may help prevent or treat  arthritis, inflammation, and various types of infection. Ginger may also reduce the risk of diabetes, cancer and other health problems.  When you purchase ginger root make sure you are purchasing organic ginger root as this will be free of pesticides and herbicides.

Pregnancy Prenatal Chiropractic Care Info:  Pregnancy can affect sleep in various ways due to hormonal fluctuations, extra weight, and other changes. Certain features of a mattress may help ease sleep during pregnancy by helping to regulate temperature, provide pressure relief, and support side sleeping.  When shopping for a new pregnancy mattress it is important that the mattress contours to the pregnant body to support the lower back, hips and shoulders.  Memory foam inside of the mattress will provide pressure point relief to reduce pregnancy related lower back tension and discomfort.  The mattress should have edge support that makes it easier to get in and out of bed while pregnant. The mattress should also have wrapped coils to provide support, reduce motion transfer and allow for airflow.  A steel coil base will help reduce sagging.  Lastly, a good pregnancy mattress will support spinal alignment and help your pregnancy chiropractic adjustments last longer.

Chiropractic care and headaches:  The vast majority of headaches are called cervicogenic headaches.  These types of headaches come from too much muscle tension in the neck area also called the cervical spine.  When neck muscles become tight due to some sort of muscular stress, the tension of the muscles exerts a force on the small bones in the neck and causes a chiropractic subluxation.  This misalignment keeps the neck muscles tight and irritates the nerves going from the neck to the head, resulting in a headache.  Chiropractic adjustments of the neck vertebra relaxes the muscle tension and corrects the cause of the headache.

Author

Dr J. Zimmerman, Chiropractor Dr. Zimmerman is a practicing chiropractor from Galloway, NJ with 30 years of chiropractic practice.