RE: 2015/16 Football Season
(14 Jun 2015, 8:32 am)MrFozz wrote Exactly...
Before this recent batch of deaths, it had happened enough, Marc Vivien-Foe, Antonio Puerta, Miklos Feher, Matt Gadsby, Phil O'Donnell to name a few, there has also been schoolkids dying
I think all Football Clubs/Grounds in the UK were required to have a defibrillator after Fabrice Muamba, I'm not 100% sure on that though
This should be extended to clubs in the world with a physio in each Club trained to use it, it would be worth it if it saved 1 life somewhere.
I often wonder how rigorous a medical at a football club are, I would have thought any kind of heart defect would show long before someone dies of it, so how could it be done, would more regular medicals do it, say, 1 a year during Pre-Season training...
But it is happening a lot and needs to be looked at
With regard to how rigorous a medical at a football club is, it all comes down to how much money the club in question is willing to spend.
Unless someone has an irregular or unusual heart-beat which merits further medical testing, a standard medical (involving a stethascope) will not reveal anything about the heart unless the patient discloses they are suffering from any additional pain around that area or anything else which may indicate a heart condition.
If someone thinks they have good chance of making a career out of any sport, not just football, it's not out of the question to suggest some athletes may suppress any information which could hamper their progress. Sadly, this might include the odd twinge here and there - only known to the athlete - and not to the medical examiner. Regular medicals won't reveal anything more than is obvious to examiner or anything the patient is willing is disclose.
A more rigorous medical should involve a echocardiogram which would reveal any further heart defects. However random screenings iaren't cheap and it's unlikely that lower league clubs are going to fork out for such tests even though it could potentially save lives. There's also a cost/benefit analysis to look at here: I would imagine a very high percentage of players are likely to pass which means, essentially, an echocardiogram will be looked at as a mammoth waste of financial resources.
Fitness tests will be included in the medical but, once again, I'd imagine very few athletes who have progressed to a professional level are going to fail. Generally speaking, a fitness test won't reveal any heart conditions either.