Running marathons can cause permanent damage to your heart, reveals a new research. A study showed that high endurance exercises can lead to scarring of the right of the right ventricle, raising the risk of health complications. It is hoped that invention will accelerate the development of appropriate treatments and pre-emptive procedures.
A study by researchers from the University of Melbourne, Australia, evaluated forty elite athletes, who have no history of heart problems. Those athletes were planning to compete in one of four endurance events. Results of the test showed that immediately after racing, hearts of the athletes had changed shape, growing in volume, while function of right ventricle decreased.
However, after a week function of right ventricle recovered in majority of athletes but in five there was evidence of potentially permanent scarring. The right ventricle is one among four chambers of the heart and pumps blood to the lungs. Scar tissue may grow weaker over time and can form an abnormal bulge of tissue called as an aneurysm.
Together with other heart problems this abnormal bulge of tissue could enlarge the heart and diminish its ability to pump blood effectively, resulting in heart failure. According to lead researchers Dr Andre La Gerche, their study identifies the right ventricle as being most susceptible to exercise-induced injury.
It suggests that the right ventricle should be a focus of attention because they try to resolve the clinical consequence of these results. Affected athletes could be at risk of reduced performance called as a cardiac over-training syndrome or it may cause arrhythmia.
Dr La Gerche added that extreme endurance exercise probably does cause damage to the heart in some athletes. They do not think that the human body is designed to exercise at full stretch for as long as eleven hours a day, so damage to the heart is not unlikely. The study was published in the European Heart Journal.
Meanwhile researchers urge elite athletes to take up sensible training methods and should allow sufficient recovery time after events. It is too early to pronounce that taking part in endurance sports causes long-term damage to the right ventricle, explained Professor Sanjay Sharma, from St George’s University London and the medical director of the London Marathon.
But this study indicates that it might cause a problem in some endurance athletes with a tendency and, therefore, it should be studied further. A spokesperson from the British Heart Foundation agreed further long-term research will be required in order to resolve if extreme endurance exercise can cause damage to the right ventricle of the heart in some athletes.