It is not something many American football fans witnessed before. It was a life-saving medical attention that saved his life. When Damar Hamlin collapsed on the NFL field after a cardiac arrest, the Buffalo Bills medical team initiated the league’s Emergency Action Plan within 10 seconds.
The global knowledge and comprehension of cardiac arrests in grassroots amateur football, whether at the international or domestic level, has seen significant improvements in recent years. These incidents happening during matches have become more recognized, particularly among fans of international soccer.
Over the past decade, the response to cardiac arrests in European soccer has significantly improved in both professional and amateur games. This improvement has been unlike any of the most well-known incidents, including Hamlin’s case.
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Damar Hamlin incident
On Jan. 2, during his team’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Hamlin, a safety for the Bills, experienced a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field.
According to medical personnel, the league stated that the NFL-required Emergency Action Plan (EAP) was implemented on the field in response to the incident and functioned as intended.
He will carry on with his recovery at his residence, and the Bills verified that he was discharged from the medical facility on Wednesday. After showing substantial improvement in his healing process a week later, he was transferred to a Buffalo hospital for further evaluation. Following his critical condition, he was moved to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center until his heart started beating again on the field.
The force must be strong enough and happen precisely at a specific time for this to occur. There are no underlying conditions that cause it, and there is no anatomical or structural damage to the heart. Cardiac arrest occurs during a specific period in the electrical cardiac cycle when blunt trauma to the chest happens, known as commotio cordis. Several prominent cardiologists have suggested that it may have been caused by commotio cordis, although the exact reason why Hamlin’s heart stopped for approximately nine minutes during the game is not known.
The long-term psychological consequences of experiencing a traumatic event should not be underestimated. It may take some time for symptoms to become apparent, but there has been promising advancement in terms of physical and neurological healing. Hamlin now faces a journey to recovery that could span months or even years.
Cases of cardiac arrests in football
Perhaps the most high-profile incident occurred when Christian Eriksen, contracted to Milan Inter side in Serie A at the time, collapsed on the pitch while playing against Denmark in the 2020 Euro in Finland.
As per Professor Sanjay Sharma, a globally renowned heart specialist who serves as the cardiology consultant to the FA and the English Institute of Sport, Eriksen underwent yearly examinations and consistently showed “normal” outcomes as a high-level athlete. Described as “gone” by one of Denmark’s medical professionals, their key player and captain’s heart had ceased beating, making him clinically deceased, until he was revived through the prompt utilization of an AED (automated external defibrillator).
Since his “recovery has been described as a miracle,” he moved to Manchester United in the summer, where he established himself as a regular first-team player. In January 2022, he signed for Brentford, a Premier League side from west London, where he starred in his second season. After the incident, Eriksen was fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), as it is forbidden for anyone equipped with a pacemaker to play professional football in Italy.
He subsequently retired into forced retirement, unlike Fabrice Muamba who made a recovery after collapsing on the pitch in 2012, which is one of the most well-known cases in English football. In September of the same year, a 17-year-old amateur player named Rich Dylan collapsed and died during a FA Youth Cup game for West Bridgford Colts, a side from Nottinghamshire. This highlighted the potentially life-changing heart problem that turned out to be. In October 2021, Sergio Aguero, formerly of Manchester City, decided to retire after being taken off during a game against Alaves due to a potentially life-threatening heart condition. While there appeared to be a spike in global consciousness regarding cardiac arrests suffered by football players in 2021, it is not a new phenomenon.
He has subsequently established Venturi Cardiology, a cardiac clinic in the northwestern region of England.
How soccer, at all levels, has improved its cardiac-arrest response
The prompt response from a medical team on standby, such as Eriksen and Muamba, was crucial. Unfortunately, only 142 individuals, which accounts for 23 percent of the minority, managed to survive. The report primarily concentrated on deaths that occurred “during or within one hour after training (all organized sports activities for football players) and competitions,” instead of players who suffered cardiac arrests outside of playing activities. The study conducted in 2020, which examined the period from 2014 to 2018, revealed that there were 617 player deaths attributed to cardiac arrests.
Only 10 percent of the general population in the UK, who suffer cardiac arrest outside hospitals, survive. The rate is comparatively low because screening procedures are not frequent enough and services like defibrillation or CPR are not readily available.
All academy players undergo a thorough screening process at the age of 16, with a requirement for players aged 14 to 25 to undergo more frequent testing. The English Football Association (FA) and other sports organizations have raised the frequency of screenings as a result.
The screening includes a cardiac ultrasound (an ultrasound of the heart) and a cardiac graph (a visual representation of the electrical activity within the heart), followed by a survey to identify any worrying heart symptoms or a family history of heart disease.
The Premier League has also announced the launch of its new Defibrillator Fund, where thousands of external automated defibrillators will be provided to associations and grassroots clubs across England in response to Eriksen’s cardiac arrest.
According to the Premier League, approximately 1.5 million coaches, players, administrators, and officials across grassroots game in England have had access to these new life-saving devices, which totals around 2,000.
Prompt defibrillation has the potential to potentially rescue Americans experiencing a heart attack in public places, where over 18,000 Americans experience a heart attack annually, but the accessibility to defibrillators is still not as easily accessible in the United States. The New Orleans Saints of the NFL and the New Orleans Pelicans of the NBA declared their intention to contribute 67 defibrillators to schools in the surrounding region as a result of the Hamlin incident. This endeavor provides everyone, including the general public, with the resources to potentially rescue lives at football venues at all levels.