| Author | Message | ||
     Juerg Senior Member Username: Juerg Post Number: 2546 Registered: 04-2006 |
The tragic situation from the Tour de Suisse, shows, why we use FaCT to evaluate rather systems and their ability thabn wattage and VO2 max. Here as you can see: The info from journalist don't make much sense either. " "I can't imagine an inflammation of the heart muscle in his case. Kim was absolutely healthy." But at the time of Kirchen's collapse, his heart did not perform normally. "We speak of cardiac output. Normally it is 60 percent, but with Kim it was only 10 to 15 percent," Delagardelle added." CO = Cardiac output and it is in liter / min. so the questions is: what is 60 % from "normal" They never actually did a test in real situation on a bike and therefor not even have a normal value under activity. Nor does it make sense 15 %. The question here is rather, that the WEF % ( Ejection fraction is 60 % as a normal value under rest and now it is 15 % +. Here 2 fact examples . 1 a healthy person first and than a person we just tested after a heart attack at rest before we actually started a " rehab program"   | ||
| Andrew Senior Member Username: Andrew Post Number: 405 Registered: 04-2006 |
"The newspaper confirms that Kirchen's heart stopped on Friday evening, but the news that there has been improvement is an encouraging sign. His problems began in the lead up to the E3 Prijs when he had a problem with a saddle sore infection. The Katusha rider went on a heavy dose of antibiotics, and ended up in the hospital after a bad reaction to the medication. Doctors couldn't find any problems with Kirchen and sent him home. He looked set to ride in the Brabantse Pijl, but two days before the race he was out training and ended up being taken to the hospital by ambulance after being found unconscious on the side of the road. Doctors were again unable to diagnose the problem. The problem crept up again during Flèche Wallonne on the first climb up the Mur de Huy. People close to Kirchen told the De Standaard that "his vision went black, and he suddenly didn't know where he was"." This is a case of professional athletes and their teams ignoring very specific red flags, and NOT using all available testing equipment to assess the health of a rider before returning to sport. People can call Juerg what they want, but his traveling lab would have very easily been able to identify whether there was a problem with the contraction of the heart after Kirchen's first trip to the hospital. Given his recent event, it is very likely his infection caused a cardiomyopathy, despite the course of antibiotics, and this would certainly have negatively affected his Cardiac Output and ejection fraction. However, the physicians may not have been able to pick this up at rest, and it may have only been apparent during exercise, which is where assessment with the Physioflow is so valuable. And then, following the episode in training, when he was found unconscious, there could have been another assessment to see if the problem was getting worse, which almost certainly it would have been. Put an already compromised heart under stress in a tour situation, and the results are not surprising really. I hope Juerg's contacts in Europe will begin to see the incredible value of an inexpensive machine, compared not just to the salary or prize money of a quality rider like Kirchen, but to the health of the riders themselves. If only we could convince the Pro Teams to come and visit for a few days to see how easy it is to set up, and how much valuable information can be gained both for the healthy riders to direct their training, and for the ones that are showing true symptoms of something much more serious. |