#72-BACK TO SPORT
BACK TO SPORT AFTER PERICARDITIS
Hey everyone!
I have already talked about the risks taken when I was sent for cardiac rehabilitation in the middle of pericarditis. Exercising and doing cardio literally exhausted me. But above all, it caused a serious relapse that lasted more than 6 months. The advisors are not the ones paying. I paid a high price for this mistake: pain and an out-of-control heart rate, not to mention the blow to mental health of seeing my efforts to get through it reduced to nothing.
Many of us ask ourselves the same question after pericarditis: when and how to go back to sport?
1/ WHEN?
I applied several precautionary rules before resuming sport.
The first rule: if it hurts, it is still pericarditis. And it is better to refrain from doing sport, except for walking calmly and flat outside.
The second rule: from the moment you no longer have pain, you have to wait 3 months. This is the safety period to avoid rekindling the inflammation.
The third rule: listen to your body and test yourself gradually. Lengthen your walks once or twice a week. Start climbing hills to gently activate your cardio and see how your body reacts.
2/ HOW?
Since the inflammation seems to be under control, I've been trying to get back into sports, which is no easy feat. My body has suffered, my muscles have disappeared, my heart and lungs need to be retrained for sports.
I started running again last spring.
My goal: to run 5 kilometers by the end of the summer. I found a program on the internet with 30 training sessions over 10 weeks that alternates walking and running. You start with one minute of running, then two minutes, three minutes, etc.
It's a little scary to start pushing your body again, and especially your heart, after 6 years of pericarditis. I needed to control my efforts.
During the pericarditis, I hid an oximeter deep in my pockets that allowed me to monitor my heart rate and adapt my efforts.
At a certain point, I could guess the result before looking at the screen.
When you walk, the oximeter is useful. But when you run, it is not practical. It was the long-awaited moment to acquire a smartwatch. It gave me a little more confidence, even if listening to your body remains essential.
I bought a GARMIN FORERUNNER 165 watch at the beginning of the summer. It gives the heart rate and allows you to pre-record the running and walking sequences. The "body battery" function is also very interesting to see if you are expending too much energy, and if the quality of sleep is good.
I have almost reached the end of the 30 sessions. In fact, I have done 25. At the beginning, I was exhausted after training. I sometimes had pain in the pericardium. But I was starting to feel my muscles getting back into shape.
The big problem was with my tendons: ankles, heels, soles of my feet, toes. They seemed to be getting inflamed one after the other. The arch of my foot had lost its tone. I consulted a podiatrist who made me some special insoles.
As you can imagine, I had to lower my goals. The time frame for getting back into sport is going to be much longer than I thought.
So I chose to walk instead of run. If possible 10 kilometers. Sometimes I run a little downhill to give the body some impact and gradually get it used to running again. I do online yoga to stretch my tendons and get them supple again.
It will take longer, but I haven't given up on my goal of running 5 kilometers. Let's hope it will be for the end of next summer...
THERE'S NO POINT IN RUNNING, YOU HAVE TO... START AGAIN PROGRESSIVELY.
Pericordially yours,
Vali