Thank you Kathy Trial! Blood Clots in Runners Exercise lowers clot risk, but doesnt make you immune. By Alex Hutchinson Published June 30, 2014 A few weeks ago, Canadian Running magazine had an article about a serious health scare for Kelly Wiebe, one of the countrys top distance runners. The article is worth a read, but the short version is that he had an undiagnosed blood clot in his leg, possibly precipitated by a minor muscle injury during training, which then got infected and almost killed him. Wiebe isnt the only top runner to get hit by a blood clot – others like Lee Troop and Lynn Jennings have also run into similar troubles. While Wiebes troubles stemmed from an infection, the more serious danger from certain types of blood clots is that a piece breaks off and travels to your lungs, causing a life-threatening pulmonary embolism. After the article on Wiebe appeared, I got an e-mail from a reader asking whether athletes are at higher risk of blood clots. On the surface, the obvious answer is no, because some of the key risk factors are obesity, heart disease, and a sedentary lifestyle. But it turns out there are also some factors that work in the opposite direction and raise the risk for athletes. So I decided to look into it for my column this week in the Globe and Mail. The key point: The risk factors for blood clots and pulmonary embolism can be grouped into three categories: how prone your blood is to clotting; how smooth or damaged the walls of your blood vessels are; and how vigorously your blood flows. As it happens, endurance athletes are prone to all three risk factors, explains Dr. Claire Hull, a medical researcher at Swansea University in Wales. Specifically: Dehydration and inflammation make your blood more prone to clotting; Physical trauma like muscle strains can damage blood vessel walls; Low blood pressure and a low resting heart rate allow blood to pool during periods of immobility, and flow is further compromised when athletes take long flights to and from competitions. That means that athletes arent immune from blood clots – but it doesnt necessarily mean that theyre at higher risk than the general population (despite some of the claims youll find online). According to Dr. Hull, there simply isnt any reliable data on the prevalence of blood clots at this point, so its impossible to draw comparisons with other groups. Still, its clear that we should be aware of the risks, take seriously the familiar advice to get up and move around during long flights and car rides, and know the warning signs that signal you should head to the hospital to get checked out. Dr. Hull and her colleague Julia Harris published an excellent information sheet on athletes and blood clots in the journal Circulation last year that
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 03:44:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015