Exertional Heat Illness: A Yearly Preventable Cause of Illness and Death in Athletes

Abstract

Every summer, exertional heat illness in athletes becomes the center of attention among coaches, athletic trainers, and physicians across the United States. This topic has recently received increased attention as seven football players died from exertional heat illness between July 2020 and August 2021[1] . Health professionals believe that sport-related heat illnesses can be prevented through following published sports guidelines, protocols for weather monitoring and water breaks, and using appropriate conditioning during practice sessions. This topic has become such an issue that several states and local governing bodies have enacted legislation and policy for exertional heat illness education and training for coaches, players, and parents[2,3,32] . Every year there are coaches and programs that abstain from following guidelines, disregard weather conditions, and force extreme conditioning, referred to as “irrational intensity”[4] . This blatant disregard for player safety can lead to severe cases of exertional heat illness and even death. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on athletics for nearly two years. When looking at the scope of athletics this upcoming summer, it is reasonable to say that we may be heading towards a return to more typical summer activities. As COVID-19 restrictions loosen, there will likely be an increase in sports participation this summer compared to the summers of 2020 and 2021. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the sporting community is educated on a preventable illness that plagues athletes during hot weather seasons. Through education, accountability, enacting protocols, and following guidelines set by health professionals[5-7] , we can help prevent these needless cases of severe heat illness and death.