We see more and more ‘middle aged’ athletes in lycra. Endurance exercise like participation in long distance running, marathons and other events is becoming more common in the middle aged weekend warrior. Whilst this is a great thing one has to realize that there is a potential risk of injury, disease and even death in this age group. It is not uncommon to have silent ischaemia, coronary heart disease and exercise can trigger an acute event such as myocardial infarction, arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Eighty percent of cardia death in senior athletes are caused by coronary artery disease.
It is therefore crucial to have a pre-participation check before you decide to stress your body to the extremes. Unfortunately a simple clinical examination even if performed by an experienced cardiologist and an ECG do not really help to determine whether you have cardiac disease. Stress ECG’s and stress echocardiograms and sometimes a CT scan and cardiac MRI are needed to check cardiac health. We strongly recommend to make an appointment with an experienced cardiologist to check things before training for an endurance event
