When should high-performance athletes return to training and competition after an infection with COVID-19? These and other questions are answered by Prof. Dr. Martin Halle, head of the Chair of Preventive and Rehabilitative Sports Medicine, in an interview with editor Michael Ebert in the current Thursday edition of the sports magazine "kicker" of March 10, 2022. Under the title "Hauptsache, die Beine bewegen sich" ("The main thing is to keep your legs moving"), sports physician Halle calls for better protection of high-performance athletes and criticizes the fact that injuries are respected more than illnesses.

Prof. Halle on...

...the return of top athletes to training:

"It has evolved from a phase of 'We don't know what's coming' to a phase of 'We know more now.' At the very beginning, it was underestimated that heart muscle inflammation could occur after a COVID-19 disease, and too much attention was focused on the lungs. In the meantime, it was said that up to 70 percent of those infected developed changes in the heart. It is now known that it is only in one to two percent of cases."

...diagnostic procedures before returning to training:

"Medical professionals essentially look at the heart and lungs. To test lung function, they do an exercise ECG and take blood from the earlobe before and after to measure blood gases. We remember the case of Joshua Kimmich, where X-rays showed fluid due to inflammation in the lungs. No oxygen is transported in these places."

...on resting too briefly after an infection:

"When an athlete has a torn muscle fiber, everyone says, it takes several weeks. If someone has Corona, he should be back on the field the following Saturday. There is a wrong understanding. Whereas with orthopedic problems it's clear that it just won't work, with internal problems people think it will work. The main thing is that the legs move."

To the homepage of the Chair of Preventive and Rehabilitative Sports Medicine

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Martin Halle
Chair of Preventive and Rehabilitative Sports Medicine
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 56 (Campus C)
80992 München

phone: 089 289 24441
e-mail: sportmed(at)mri.tum.de

Text: Romy Schwaiger
Photos: private/“kicker“