“When I heard the news, I thought: Another news,” says Tom Tulingiks, president of the Society of Sports Physicians and Exams.
“We know it’s rare, but when this happens on the world stage, with all those cameras out, it hits even more. Then we get the facts again: We can’t handle it.”
As a professional footballer for the biggest clubs (Ajax, Tottenham and Inter), Christian Eriksen is checked annually for heart problems. However something like this happens. “We know that not everything has been identified yet.”
“3-5 athletes out of 100,000 can have cardiac arrest during or shortly after exercise. Many of these types of cardiac arrest happen to players in their late twenties, such as Eriksen. They may have had a condition during their career, which gradually gets worse has become.”
“Football is also a starting sport, with different efforts at the peak. It can lead to such cardiac arrest. It can have an impact on an underlying heart problem.”
“You can’t say it doesn’t happen that often in football players. There are simply more people doing sports. But it also happens in endurance sports.”
How will this affect Ericsson? “It’s good that he’s regained consciousness. I heard it took a while for them to start CPR. Every minute you wait, you lose 10% of your chance of survival. Eriksen may still be able to play football with the defibrillator, but first we have to figure out why. Still It’s too early for that.”
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