Lifting with ICD

[Sean Berry]

Mark,

John asked me if you could pose his question about the ICD and lifting to the open board to see if there are any out there lifting with such a device and maybe get Jordan's or Sully's input.

On Wikipedia I found this on the ICD page:

Physical activities Almost all forms of physical activities can be performed by patients with an ICD. All forms of sports that do not pose a risk of damaging the ICD or because of the underlying cardiomyopathy can be undertaken by the patient. Special care should be taken not to put excessive strain on the shoulder, arm and torso area where the ICD is implanted. Doing so may damage the ICD or the leads going from the ICD generator to the patient's heart. Particularly to be avoided are exercises that cause the clavicle to be pulled down towards the ribs, such as lifting weights with the arm, on the ICD site, while standing.


Which seems to eliminate the Overhead Press and maybe more. In any case, he wants to continue training, but caution may need to be exercised.

[Mark Rippetoe]

So you won't have to look it up, ICD means implanted cardiac defibrillator. John is going to have to experiment to see which of these movements he can tolerate. This will be better than merely assuming there are those he can't. We'll ask the board for input.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

Honestly, I have no idea. An interesting question. A lot would depend, I suppose, on the actual placement of ICD (and the leads). I might hypothesize that if the movement doesn't cause pain at the implantation site or in the chest wall, it's probably okay. But I'm just talking out my ass.

I guess I could have just terminated this post after the first sentence and left it at that.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I'm afraid that John will be the one finding his own way here. It will be interesting.

[Brian Jones]

DAMN! I.C.D., not O.C.D. . . . .I thought we were going to have a Sheldon Cooper weight-training thread . .