Tottenham Hotspur footballer Rodrigo Bentancur collapsed face down on the pitch just five minutes into a match against Liverpool this week.
The 27-year-old midfielder attempted a header but appeared to fall awkwardly and was left face down and motionless on the pitch.
He has since updated his fans from his hospital bed on a picture smiling with his fiancée Melany La Banca with the caption “everything is fine.”
The reason for its collapse remains, at this time, unknown. But what can cause a seemingly fit athlete to suddenly collapse on the court?
The Bentancur incident comes after numerous young footballers suddenly collapsed on the football field.
Juan Izquierdo, 27, died in August as a result of a viral infection that put extra pressure on his heart, causing it to beat at an irregular rhythm, medically called a cardiac arrhythmia.
Tom Lockyer, 30, collapsed in February last year due to atrial fibrillation, a health condition that causes the heart to beat irregularly and abnormally faster and can trigger a heart attack.
Meanwhile, Christian Eriksen, 32, collapsed in 2020 due to undetected ventricular fibrillation, another condition that causes heart rhythm disturbances.
Doctors treated him for nine minutes before he was carried off on a stretcher to applause from both sets of supporters.
Bentancur appeared unconscious on the pitch after his worrying fall.
Research has shown that athletes who play so-called “start-stop” or “stop and go” sports, including soccer, which are characterized by bursts of demanding physical activity followed by relative inactivity, are more likely to suffer events. cardiac.
This is due to the repeated sudden demands placed on the heart, which can cause additional strain, exacerbating any heart problems a player may have.
Other cases of athletes collapsing on the field of play refer to specific cases of an injury called commotio cordis.
This is where the chest experiences a high-speed impact (usually from a ball in a sporting context) of such severity that it disrupts the nerve signals that regulate the heartbeat.
However, there are many other possible reasons why an athlete may suddenly collapse.
These include being too hot and not drinking or eating enough.
Dehydration causes less blood to travel through the body, causing low blood pressure, dizziness and fainting, explains the British Heart Foundation.
The charity adds that in response to this, the heart may begin to beat faster to help blood move through the body, causing palpitations.
Bentancur has provided an update on his health from his hospital bed of him smiling with his fiancée Melany La Banca while declaring that he is “everything fine.”
Lack of water can also cause the blood to thicken, increasing the risk of blood clots and heart attacks.
There are screening programs designed to detect heart problems in athletes, but like any medical scan or test, they are not perfect and there is still a chance that a case may slip through the net.
In the UK, the Football Association requires footballers to undergo mandatory tests at the age of 16, but only later tests are recommended.
Speaking in the wake of recent player collapses, some cardiologists have called for this to change, demanding that mandatory testing be repeated when players enter their 20s and 30s.
Additional testing will not only help detect players with heart problems who initially slipped through the net, but will also help identify those who develop a concerning heart condition later in their career.
Professor Guido Pieles, who heads the Sports Cardiology Clinic at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health, and advocates for greater monitoring of athletes, previously said: “If a player is tested at the age of 16, we cannot guarantee that when I’m 29, everything is still normal.”
“Some diseases appear between the ages of 20 and 30, which is why we also recommend longitudinal screening.”