If you don't do a physical examination before doing this exercise, you will really die suddenly.

Life lies in exercise, but for some people exercise may end their lives. Therefore, it is best to have a physical examination before strenuous exercise to avoid tragedy.

Young man dies suddenly while playing basketball

21-year-old Wang was weak when he was young. Later, he strengthened his physique through exercise and especially liked playing basketball. After 5 days of a severe cold, I couldn't hold it in any longer and went to the basketball court despite still feeling unwell. After beating for about 20 minutes, Wang suddenly looked in pain, cried out "Ouch!", covered his chest, squatted down, and soon fell to the ground. His teammates initially thought that he was too tired and carried him out of the field. But when someone with medical knowledge arrived, they found that Wang was in a critical condition and rushed him to the hospital, but it was too late. The doctor initially diagnosed him with sudden cardiac death.

A 35-year-old government official, who was obese, was determined to go to the fitness center to keep fit. Unexpectedly, an accident happened during the second fitness exercise. He suddenly fainted and lost consciousness while exercising with dumbbells. He stopped breathing and had no heartbeat on the way to the hospital.

90% of sudden death during exercise is caused by heart disease

How can a healthy person suddenly die during exercise? In fact, sudden death during exercise is mostly sudden cardiac death (SCD). Relevant data show that nearly 90% of sudden death during exercise is caused by heart disease, which means that these people's deaths are caused by both exercise and underlying heart disease. The main causes of sudden death during exercise include:

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM): It is the main cause of sudden death in young people, accounting for more than 1/3. The prevalence of HCM in the general population is estimated to be 1 in 500, but many HCM patients remain undiagnosed throughout their lives. Most unfortunately, HCM often presents with sudden death as the first symptom.

Coronary artery malformation: It is the second leading cause of sudden death. The missed diagnosis rate of this congenital malformation is also high, and some patients with coronary artery malformation may show symptoms such as syncope or angina pectoris before sudden death.

Myocarditis: Viral myocarditis (many of which are caused by colds) may cause arrhythmias after the acute phase, and may even develop into dilated cardiomyopathy and cause sudden death. Sudden death can occur during both the acute phase and the recovery phase of myocarditis.

Coronary heart disease: Coronary heart disease is the main cause of sudden death after strenuous activity in most people over 35 years old.

People with congenital heart disease (Marfan syndrome) and other diseases are at a very high risk of sudden death during exercise.

It should be noted that people with obesity, high blood lipids, high blood pressure, and fatty liver have the greatest risk of sudden death due to latent coronary heart disease.

Do a physical examination before strenuous exercise

In case of sudden death during exercise, it is best to have a physical examination before doing high-intensity exercise and ask the doctor to "diagnose" whether you are suitable for high-intensity exercise. Routine physical examination items include:

Electrocardiogram: In current routine physical examinations, the heart is usually tested by electrocardiogram, but the electrocardiogram can generally only detect obvious heart diseases that are in the early stages of development, such as arrhythmias and myocardial infarction.

Exercise treadmill test: Running on an instrument similar to a treadmill. As time goes by, gradually increase the running speed to make the heart load reach a higher level and observe whether there are any hidden dangers in the heart. It usually lasts about 10 minutes. If you feel stuffy, uncomfortable, or even painful, further examination is needed.

Arteriosclerosis detection: If conditions permit, you can undergo a test using an instrument called an "arteriosclerosis detector". By detecting pulse waves and measuring blood pressure at the wrist and ankle at the same time, arteriosclerosis can be diagnosed and screened early.

There are also some preventive measures: do warm-up exercises before fitness, and take a break after about 30 minutes of exercise; if you experience chest tightness, shortness of breath, palpitations, nausea, etc. during exercise, you should gradually slow down the exercise and then get enough rest. Don't persist blindly. This can reduce or avoid the occurrence of serious accidents. If you find someone suddenly loses consciousness and falls to the ground during exercise, you should immediately lay them flat, pat their cheeks and call them, and touch their carotid artery with your hand to determine whether there is a pulse. If there is no response and no arterial pulsation, you should immediately perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and call 120 to send them to the hospital as soon as possible.