Too early to play golf ?

Lead displacement

by Selwyn - 2021-02-23 09:51:32

Displacements are commonest immediately after the implantation,  and thereafter become less frequent, though are more frequent in young males ( perhaps representing sport?).  Two months seems to be the water-shed.

I was back to swimming front crawl within 2 months. 

You have to appreciate that the incidence of lead displacement is about 4.4% no matter what. 

If you want to see a graph of lead displacement with time, then see

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4031363/figure/Fig3/

Personally, I would go for 2 months as being OK. You would have to ensure you are comfortable with arm movement and your wound should be completely healed.

Once the wires are fibrosed to the heart muscle is a difficult job to tear them out ( all pacemakers must be removed before cremation of a body).

golf

by Tracey_E - 2021-02-23 10:22:20

Ask 10 doctors, get 10 answers! I live in an area with more golf courses per capita than any place in the US so my ep has golfer instructions on the care sheet he gives everyone. Chip/pitch/putt whenever you feel up to it, 3 months for a full swing. Anything else is ok at 4 weeks. He used to say 6 weeks (he's done my last 3, I'm on #5)

There has been at least one study that showed patients with no restrictions whatsoever had no more rate of lead displacement than patients with the traditional 4-6 week restrictions.

Bottom line, there is no definitive answer. I'm one who tends to push the envelope in general, but I'd hold off at least 2 months, if not the full 3. 

Covid ( and Boris ) have decided it is too early to play. ....

by IAN MC - 2021-02-23 11:23:25

One thing which has always struck me on the PM club is the wide variations in how risk-averse people are.  Some people see having  a PM as a minor hiccup and just want to get on with their lives ; the more risk-averse, the worriers,  see threats and danger everywhere they look and see their pacemaker as a really negative thing.

I suspect that Drs are no different....... there are those who just want us to get on with our iives and at the other end of the scale, the really risk-averse ones. There is probably very little published data to help them answer the question    " When can I play golf again   ? "

For what its worth, my E.P. is a keen golfer himself and told me to avoid a full-blooded golf swing until 8 weeks .He recommended that I practise my short game in the first 6 or 7 weeks  ( which is what I did  but it hasn't helped much unfortunately ! )

.... but I cannot recommend strongly enough that you  " Listen to your body ". We are all different; you are lucky ,Covid is making your decision a little easier !

Best of luck

Ian