“ ATHLETE'S HEART.”

Hokitika Guardian, 6 November 1923, Page 4

“ ATHLETE'S HEART.”

DECLARED I'D BE A MYTH. KXCKIHA! i!NT S BY DOCTORS. Athlete’s heart, lung a bugbear to the medical profession, i now deeiaivJ to be a myth. Dr S. A. Levine, with Dr Burgess Gordon, am! I)r .Albert AYilmaers, of Belgium, who coinin' ted a series cf experiments upon tin* lung, distant e runners taking part in a grueili ug C-5 mile te.-t. -aid that, ali hough ii had lint been sciein incaliy proved, success in long dislaii'O run'niug was probable more a matter of legs than heart nr wind power.

The experiment's (uudueted oil the marathon runners wen* designed, according i*i ivsiaieli work, to filing to light information on the old roiitrovi*isv enneeriiii*g "athlete's heart among other tilings, to try to learn whether there realK is such n phenomenon ami whether it may be imbued by over-exertion. The condition of ea'.eli athlete's hearl immediately after the rare and at normal was determined by the taking ol X-ray pictures ol each runner immediate!;.- alter the finish, and again later after the man had rested for several I*l Ill's. The pictures were then coMparetl. "The surprisin • thing in our results was Hull the he.'iil in no • -.:■-• * became any larger as a result, of the race, but in a. cumber i f instances it. lan aim* sine Men," Dr 1 a vine 'aid. ' 'This L (liaiuci m* a 1 !/* epp.n-ed I:* *■ ■•!:! view that dilation of flu* heart u- apt to loilow over-exei 1 ion." The runnel's id-o were examined :*s la their wind power or tl; - "vital ea - piti-i: '■ ul the lungs." The physicians eon-id. Irom eompa’-T-iuis if their 11 *-1 - 1 ciuri* and after the r-iea that in general t lie w ind power of the inimer*; was ithov M-uuud. but tliere t here were setae who We:-,* -light!-.' la* low normal. The winner had a wind power of :_M !*• r e.*!H .alio'.'e imniuil, l*ui two men who finished far down in lie* IF-t lmd great.*r strong; h in ihai particular. "Before the rac, Dr AYilmaers and inysi'li detei mined ifie vital eapa itv of each man's lung’s by letting him exhale as forcefully as possible after having taken a deep fiier.t’i into a spiromet er." IP* 1 .•* v i 11 , * said; "In pies of weak hearts tin. measurement under ordinary circumstances' serves as a guide a- to tin* severity of the heart. "The ■ tests were repeated on as mnnv of tie* runners ns possible as

soon ns they laid finished lo -ec just how much of this 'wind cower’ had been lost. Invariably wo found Hint the Log, hard road race had taken away much of the strength I rom the lungs.” Dr Levine says that results s () far learned indieaicd that i man of moderately small stature, of below the average weight, wiih strung, muscular legs, a normal heart and wind cower, appnreinly would he most successful in liing-disianee runs, lie also said that as far a-- could he learned from (he experiment iilsl eoni))!: ted, the contestants .sustained no immediate ill-cifort ; from the race Dr Levin" added lli.n experimentconductcd on animal-;, when ike animals were run to a state cf exhaustion and then were examined as in the effect- on their hearts, boro out ill every particular the results obtained I rom Hie experiment on the marathon | runners. "A Vo performed no tests on (lie mux-. i nlar abilities of the runners," lb ] Levine said, "hut from our observe- j lions the result of a marathon rice do- I pends almost entirely upon the muscles I e-1 the legs. AY he n a man collapses in such a race it is usually because his legs refuse to carry him further, rather than that Ids heart or lung-, refuse to do his bidding.