Contact sports allowed

Contact sports

by Cabg Patch - 2016-07-18 13:08:51

My personal opinion is your consultant is playing somewhat loose with that comment. You are far more likely to suffer bruising of the muscle around the generator coupled with some aches and pains should you take a hit.

sports

by Tracey_E - 2016-07-18 15:05:49

I don't do contact sports, but I do pull ups and push ups and play with barbells that weigh triple digits. Those are all things some doctors advice against. Fact is, they have very little evidence one way or the other because it doesn't come up often enough.

The leads will not come loose in the heart. They get stuck in there so well it takes a specialized laser to get them out if they go bad. They sure as heck aren't coming out by accident. Maybe what your consultant mean is getting knocked out where they attach to the device, but again, not likely. We are much more fragile than these hunks of titanium, and you are wearing protection. We will bruise up long before the device gets damaged. There used to be a video on Heartbeat International's website of a boy who was shot in the chest. The pacer stopped the bullet, saved his life, and kept on pacing. 

We each need to decide what level of risk we are willing to live with. Me, I don't worry about it and do what I want, with my doctor's blessing. Not all doctors would agree with my doc's liberal attitude. So far 22 years of not holding back and have had no issues. I'd rather live to the fullest with what I consider to be a very small risk than stay on the sidelines, afraid of something happening. Life is full of risks, I'm not losing sleep over the minute possiblity of damaging the pacer. YMMV, of course. 

Alright...

by Cabg Patch - 2016-07-18 15:41:54

I admit, I was holding back but just couldn't take it anymore. Tracey may not participate in contact sports, but I certainly do and I assure you, my wife can get quite rough when we make contact. Never had a lead problem and when they had to extract all 3 leads they had to go in with a cutting torch to free them up.

Shouldn't be a problemI also

by athlete735516 - 2016-07-19 02:16:29

I'm glad to hear that you are able to get back into contact sports!! I also started playing contact sports (though I started 2weeks after the surgery) and agree that there is no way that you could damage the hunk of titanium inside your chest with anything short of a bullet! As far as bruising goes, yeah the risk may be higher with a pm in your chest but honestly if you were concerned about bruising you probably wouldn't be playing a contact sport at all! 

Take care!

Contact sports allowed

by slowbeat - 2016-07-19 03:38:30

Hi I suppose I over simplified what my consultant said. He advised me to see how it goes, and I did and it was brilliant to be back playing. I took contact and it was fine for me. I guess it depends on how comfortable you are with your body, pacemaker and sports in general. I wanted to get back to normal life for me and I am lucky to be able to do this.