Christian Eriksen Returns to Soccer After a Cardiac Arrest

Professional athletes are not the first people that come to mind when someone says cardiac arrest. Especially young athletes. 29 year-old soccer player, Christian Eriksen had suffered a major cardiac arrest during a game seven months ago (2). He has had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator placed and since then has made a remarkable recovery and returns to soccer with Brentford on a contract basis (2). 

A part of the reason for Eriksen’s recovery is not only his perseverance, but the fact he received high quality CPR almost instantly on the field (3). Receiving proper care In a time efficient manner increases the rate of survival (1). In all reality, athletes exert themselves to perform and succeed in a professional setting. They push themselves, they work out harder than anyone else that people can think of. To imagine them in these kinds of scenarios is absolutely mind blowing to the general public. What happens to one individual impacts the whole team. 

In scenarios like this it's very important to emphasize the need to understand and practice first aid and CPR and make sure that other athletes are trained as well as coaches. With proper training and practice, anyone can give CPR to save a life. With SMART Certification, people can learn CPR from the comfort of their home, in about 90-minutes. That's about the average time of watching a movie. It may not seem like a lot, but it is a true workout to save someone's life. 90 minutes of our time dedicated to becoming knowledgeable and certified anabout providing CPR and first aid, can save someone else's life. For more information check out our blog posts and take your certification with us.


References

  1. American Heart Association. “CPR Facts & Stats.” Cpr.heart.org, cpr.heart.org/en/resources/cpr-facts-and-stats

  2. Booth, C. (2022). Christian Eriksen returns to Premier League with Brentford signing less than year after Euro collapse. https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/christian-eriksen-returns-to-premier-league-with-brentford-signing-less-than-year-after-euro-collapse/

  3. “Denmark's Christian Eriksen Stable after Collapsing, Receiving CPR in Euro 2020 Game with Finland.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 12 June 2021, www.espn.com/soccer/denmark-den/story/4406805/denmarks-christian-eriksen-collapsesreceives-cpr-as-euro-2020-game-with-finland-postponed

Ashmitha Narayanan