I want to play volleybal!

Hi! I'm 16 years old and had my first PM put 3 weeks ago and everything is going great but i used to play volleyball and i really miss it! I was actually starting to play with a university even though i'm still in high school before I started feeling dizzy. I asked a nurse if i could play volleyball again and she told me she didn't think so because of the risks of a direct hit on the PM...
I REALLY want to keep playing... Is anything i could do to play again? If there is, how long would it be before i could star playing again?
Thanks (:

4 Comments

probably

by Tracey_E - 2012-11-28 09:11:55

You need to run it by your dr but healing time before getting back to strenuous activity can be 6 weeks to 3 months. Once you heal, there's no reason why you can't play sports.

They usually recommend we avoid sports that would risk a direct hard hit to the pm. It's not going to damage the pm because it's encased in titanium, but it will hurt and bruise you badly. There is a very small chance of damaging the leads if you happen to hit it just right. It's a judgment call. Some drs are ok with it, some are more conservative. I have a dr who tells me to go do whatever I want and forget I have it. I've had a pm for almost 20 years, have never held back and have never had a problem. I don't know if that's good luck or good advice but I don't lose sleep over it :o)

Check out these shirts, they were designed by the parents of a child with a pacer who wanted to play sports. I've heard excellent reviews
http://www.paceguard.com/Home.html

Good luck to you!!

Thanks!!

by Andy2907 - 2012-11-29 03:11:41

Wow that's amazing! Thanks for the advice i'll try and talk to my Dr to see how it goes (:
I'll also show him the pace guard to see if i can convince him to let me play (:

Andy: Do you really expect...

by donr - 2012-11-29 07:11:18

...a Dr. to say yes to such a hare-brained idea?

He has a lawyer sitting behind him & a mal-practice insurance company backing him up. Both are telling him that if he says "Yes" to you that he exposes himself to 3rd party liability if you get injured in the PM area.

Remember the movie "A Christmas Story" about the kid who wanted a BB gun for Christmas (Ralphie, you'll shoot your eye out!).

This is one of those things where you really need to TELL him you are going to do it & ask for his advice. Then watch him squirm.

If you are adamant enough about doing it, he should say something like "What good will it do for me to tell you 'No,' you'll only do it anyway." Then shrug his shoulders, roll his eyes & walk out of the room. That's how I got tacit approval to do something equally insane.

Playing volleyball w/ a pad on your chest is not exactly playing offensive nose guard for the Green Bay Packers! You might also get hit by a Jeep Cherokee at 35 mph while a passenger in a car making a left turn; struck by a meteorite; mugged while walking through a park; have a hammer dropped on your head while building a shed; Get hit in the chest by a kicked back piece of wood from a table saw.

I'll let YOU guess which 3 of those 5 happened to me. You cannot protect yourself from every potential danger. Life is too short.

Read through the posts in here & you will find that we do all sorts of things that the cardio community does not approve of.

TO me, VB is not THAT risky. Only you can make that decision.

There's only one itty-bitty problem. You neglected to tell us WHY you have a PM. If you are 100% PM dependent, it's a horse that has just run through a paint spray booth & come out purple! If you need the feature called RR (Rate Response) turned on, that's an even different horse of another color.

If you told me "Yes" to either of those conditions, even I would significantly change my advice to you. The risks are much greater under those two conditions.

It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission!

Good luck!

Don

check your private messages

by ltcoop - 2013-03-18 02:03:46

I put in a link for a protective shirt.

-Les

You know you're wired when...

Jerry & The Pacemakers is your favorite band.

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