Motorsport karting has developed into a professional international competition. Kart racing poses a unique set of physiologic challenges for athletes who compete in this sport. Until today no major ...study has evaluated the physical and cardiac challenge in professional kart racing.
The aim for this study was to measure and analyze heart rate and cardiac rhythm by a mobile, smartphone based ECG (s-patch) on professional kart-race-drivers during actual karting races through annual seasons to test the hypotheses that high g-force and stress could trigger cardiac arrhythmia.
ECG-data from kart-drivers were acquired during local races, the ADAC Kart-Masters (KZ2), the German Kart Championship (DSKC) and the European Championship Senior CIK-FIA-Serie and analyzed in this observational study. In total, free practice, qualifying practice and 32 races were assessed during the kart season 2019. Data were interpreted by two independent experienced physicians.
The average heart rate (HR) during a selected German Kart Championship (DSKC) race in Genk (Belgium) was 169 beats min-1. The longest R-R interval was 0.72 sec. The average HR during a selected European Championship CIK-FIA-race in Lonato (Italy) was 160 beats min-1. The longest R-R interval was 0.74 sec. The average HR during a selected ADAC Kart-Masters (KZ2) races in Wackersdorf (Germany) was 147 beats min-1. The longest R-R interval was 0.86 sec. In total 32 races could be recorded successful. No couplets or bigeminy cycles were detected. In one other kart racer a supraventricular extrasystole and a ventricular extrasystole was detected. Interestingly, kart-drivers were found to have sinustachycardia throughout the races most likely triggered by emotional and physiological stress during speeding.
Professional kart racing drivers had sinustachycardia with heart rates up to 193 beats min-1 during races. This is most likely attributed to a considerably high emotional and physiological stress affecting the cardiovascular system. Episodes of tachycardia positively correlated with mean speed. In the warm-up lap the heart rate was significantly lower in comparison to the race, suggesting that faster driving speed would induce greater cardiovascular stress to professional drivers during actual races. The experimental results showed that the proposed S-patch system provided a good ECG signal quality with accurate measurements even during the kart race and could detect the ECG features of the race in real time. The cardiac interpretation software performs well and is a useful tool to assist clinicians.
El kartismo es una actividad deportiva muy exigente y potencialmente riesgosa que se inicia a muy temprana edad, en Colombia incluso a los 4 años. A pesar de la baja fatalidad de los accidentes ...relacionados con el kartismo, la gran frecuencia de incidentes pueden generar problemas musculo-esqueléticos que requieren de un manejo preventivo y de rehabilitación adecuado. Adicionalmente es necesario preparar tanto física como mentalmente a los pilotos para mejorar su desempeño, disminuir el estrés, así como la aparición de lesiones y el subsecuente abandono temprano de la práctica deportiva. Por tal razón el acompañamiento multidisciplinario (en donde debe haber profesionales de medicina deportiva y medicina física y rehabilitación) para los pilotos, implica un conocimiento profundo de cada uno de los factores implicados, para de esa manera lograr una adecuado Fitness del piloto y hacer de esta una práctica cada vez más segura y placentera.
We report a case of cervical spine, tracheal and oesophageal trauma from a go-karting injury caused by the patient's scarf catching in the vehicle's wheel. We discuss the significance of the ...pre-hospital and operative management of this potentially life-threatening injury by a multi-specialty surgical team. The importance of health and safety issues in recreational sports is highlighted in view of the increasing incidence of cervical spine trauma over past two decades.
Isolated duodenal injury due to blunt abdominal trauma is extremely rare. We present a series of three such injuries due to go-karting accidents, which presented to our hospital over 5 months.
...Between October 2007 and February 2008, three cases of D3/D4 duodenal rupture presented to our hospital after go-karting accidents. Trauma occurred as a result of the steering wheel impacting on the abdomen. All patients presented similarly with symptoms of epigastric and right upper quadrant pain. In all cases, computed tomography scanning was highly suggestive of duodenal injury and, in particular, demonstrated presence of retroperitoneal air centred around the duodenum. Treatment required laparotomy and operative repair in all cases.
Duodenal injury presents insidiously due to its retroperitoneal position. A low threshold for investigating patients presenting with epigastric and right upper quadrant pain should be adopted along with active clinical vigilance to exclude serious and life-threatening trauma after go-karting accidents.
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