You can never have enough protection, especially when it comes to children who play sports. That’s what researchers concluded after a study presented by the American Heart Association found that children who play hockey, football, lacrosse or baseball risk sudden death from a hard blow to the chest even if they are wearing protective gear. If the chest is hit so hard in a particular spot above the heart, it can trigger an irregular heartbeat called ventricular fibrillation.
“If the blow occurs directly over the heart at a particular time in the heart’s cycle, the results can be catastrophic,” says Dr. Barry Maron of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. All it takes is a baseball, a baseball bat, hockey stick, a puck or any hard contact with another person to cause this phenomenon, resulting in collapse or sudden death. Researchers concluded that there needs to be better chest protection so young athletes can be safer.
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