The physicians Prof. Meyer and Scharhag plead for individual strategies to Covid

On Wednesday, the Bundesliga catch-up game between the FC Augsburg and Mainz 05 took place. The game was canceled at the beginning of March because 14 FSV players, including all three professional goalkeepers, were infected with the coronavirus. In the question of how fast after a disease a return to training makes sense, there are also different opinions under medical professionals.

The Sport Cardiologist Professor Martin Halle from the TU Munich recently recommended a general 14-active pause for professional sports people. Professor Tim Meyer from the University of Saarbrücken, team doctor of the football national team, and Professor Jürgen Scharhag from the University of Vienna, team doctor of the DFB U 21 of DFB, plead in a joint statement for an individual protocol "Return to Sport". Similarly, the physicians of Mainz 05 have been done.

The number of coronain infections is high, the virus also ranges in vocational sports. What do they advise professionals to minimize the risk of re-entering?

For re-entry, there are recommendations of medical societies, which are also adapted to new situations in the pandemic if necessary. After these, doctors, players and club officers should judge. Important is important in this diagnostics - as well as in similar situations in other diseases: "More does not necessarily help more." Because not only a too little, but also too much of diagnostics carries risks of misjudgment. It is about a reasonable balance between the sensitivity of investigations and their statement security in complaints-free athletes. Usually, the respective team physicians know the athletes best. They have already treated earlier infection and also know which burdens are pending in the near future. With them, the athletes should vote tight.

How stirring different assessments, your colleague Professor Halle recently spoke for a general load break of 14 days and for a heart MRI to exact control?

The deviating assessments are most likely from different angles and experiences. So a team doctor looks much more about routine stranded young athlete without complaints and without pre-diseases as a doctor in a practice or clinic. In vocational sports, it is usually the decision on the so-called "return to play" for a pure pension screening of athletes at this time. This situation differs significantly from that in which a patient with symptoms goes to the doctor and the likelihood of stronger COVID 19 disease with any complications such. B. a heart muscle inflammation is significantly higher.

How long should a professional do without intensive physical stress?

A general load break of 14 days For professional sports enthusiasts, the bandwidth of the already known illnesses is not fair - especially since one may pronounce a non-justified temporary professional ban. Because it is a difference if a person "only" has a positive SARS COV 2 test without disease symptoms or with strong symptoms and fever on COVID-19. In the first case, after the most adapted expert recommendations from the US, a three-day sports break is probably sufficient, in the second case 14 days can be significantly short. When using expensive and restricted examination procedures without generally accepted indication, it should also be considered whether they can be justified to other patient groups with appropriate needs.

To what extent should sport organizations adapt to their recommendations for re-entry into training or competitions due to the milder gradients?

It is not about sports organizations that set up recommendations, but this task is the responsibility of the medical societies. This should be based on all sports organizations. There is little sense if every sport develops its own regulations. This is not justifiable about the diversity of sports. Of course, due to the currently milder courses in Omikron is reflected on more liberal practices. Due to the dependence of current recommendations of the possible complaints of a patient, however, this is already given in certain limits. For example, colleagues in Austria have already implemented a concretization.

Which "Protocol" Recommend you recreational athletes?

An absolutely to be considered is that various investigations for recreational athletes whose professional advances do not depend on a continuation of their sports are not available in the same dimensions as for medically closely supervised professional athlete. So here one could certainly represent the 14-day break after diagnosis, then examinations to lead to the ways if there are still complaints. _Reek also the interview with Prof. Dr. med. Martin Halle: _ Sports Cardiologist about DFL gameplay: "Of course, that makes no sense"