Retired NFL Players Receive Health Screenings From Seton Heart Institute

by, Travis Atkinson, SM Corridor News

A number of retired NFL players received free health screening services at Seton Heart Institute in Austin on Saturday. Former players underwent a variety of procedures including electrocardiograms, echocardiograms, carotid ultrasounds, pulmonary function tests, neurological assessments, and overall health and wellness assessments.

The health screenings were offered through a partnership with the Seton Healthcare Family and the Living Heart Foundation. Founded in 2001 by former NFL quarterback and heart surgeon, Dr. Arthur Roberts, the LHF is a non-profit charity that seeks to raise awareness about the cardiovascular disease risks facing former NFL players, and to encourage early detection of cardiovascular abnormalities through screening. Saturday’s screenings were part of the LHF’s NFL Player Cardiovascular Health Screening program, which is funded by the NFL Players Association.

Former players voiced their appreciation for the opportunity to have the health screenings. “I’m very thankful,” said former Houston Oiler Todd McArthur. “It’s just great for everybody to be able to get an evaluation. We’re all getting older so it’s important to get evaluated just for the peace of mind.”

McArthur played defensive back for the Oilers in the 1980’s before going on to a career in semi-pro football. Since retiring, he has faced health problems of his own. “I put on extra weight, and got frustrated, I was depressed. But thankfully god blessed me with a great wife and a beautiful daughter.”

McArthur says he is plagued with reoccurring joint pain as well as bouts of memory loss. “I have to write down directions where my car is parked,” McArthur said. “If my wife wasn’t here with me I probably wouldn’t even have been able to come here today.”

McArthur’s words echo those of other former players and have become all too familiar stories. While concussions and brain trauma have been the center of attention as of late, LHF’s work shows that the health risks retired players face are much broader. Former football players are a particularly at-risk group for developing cardiovascular diseases because of their increased size relative to the average person. “Size is the biggest factor in the culpabilities that they have,” Dr. Roberts said. “Heart disease, diabetes, it all correlates to carrying around all this extra weight.”

These problems are compounded after players retire Dr. Roberts says. Players don’t always make the appropriate lifestyle changes once they are done with the game. They are used to consuming and burning large amounts of calories at a time, but once they find themselves away from the daily grind of life in the NFL it can be difficult to keep up that kind of exercise regiment. The LHF’s mission is to combat these problems. They seek players that are predisposed to key risk factors for heart disease such as hypertension, sleep apnea, diabetes, and high cholesterol. By identifying these players early, they can help them make the proper adjustments to diet and exercise.

“Today’s procedures are just general screenings,” Dr. Roberts said. “The LHF has developed a six-month program to help athletes change their lifestyle, to eat fewer calories, change the types of foods they eat, and to understand why exercise and all that is necessary.”

Dr. Roberts knows firsthand the dangers that life as a retired player can have. Soon after his playing career ended Dr. Roberts began to put on weight. “I took care of my patients, but I neglected myself,” Roberts said. “I should have known better. I was trained to be a doctor.”  All this changed when at 55 Dr. Roberts suffered a stroke and had to have carotid surgery to clear his arteries. This moment inspired the foundation of the LHF.

No doubt the NFL still has a plenty of work to do when it comes to player health post-retirement. It is an area of research that the league has neglected for far too long, but it is encouraging to see the NFLPA taking steps to correct this. “They should have done this years ago,” McArthur said. “Because a lot of guys need it. Not necessarily guys like me, but the older ones. The pioneers of the game.”