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Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh had said he was feeling twinges of a problem with his heart before he entered the field on Sunday in Denver. (David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
While the Chargers were warming up in Denver last Sunday, Jim Harbaugh felt his heart racing. He knew that feeling, having experienced it as a player in 1999 and as an NFL head coach 13 years later.
The two previous episodes led to medical procedures on his heart. His third bout, which began to surface the Saturday night before the Broncos game, had the Chargers coach dipping into the blue medical tent and eventually heading to the visitors’ locker room for an EKG to check his heart and an IV to replenish his fluids.
At 60, the sinewy Harbaugh is as fit as any head coach in the game, and his heart issues — diagnosed as atrial flutter — are not indisputably attributable to the stress of the game.
Three days after the game, the coach got good news from his doctors.
“The heart of an athlete was the direct quote from my cardiologist,” Harbaugh told reporters, smiling and flexing at the lectern.
“So that made me feel good. Said the stress test was really good, too. I think he used the word incredible. … Said my stamina was incredible and got stronger as it got more stressed. Back in rhythm.”
Nonetheless, to a lot of people who have done that job, the visual of him walking to the locker room looking pale and distressed, surrounded by medical personnel, was eerily relatable.
Ravens coach Brian Billick, shown on the sideline in 2007, has experienced the unhealthy stress of being an NFL coach. (Keith Srakocic / Associated Press)
“This job can kill you,” said Brian Billick, who coached the Baltimore Ravens from 1999 to 2007. “I’m serious about that. I have [atrial fibrillation], and did, and it’s something you’ve got to be very conscious of.
“The stress is something that, whether you have a heart issue or not, you have to learn to deal with. Everybody has stress in their job, I…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-coaching-stress-damage-health-100031049.html
Author : LA Times
Publish date : 2024-10-17 10:00:31
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