I’ve been recently diagnosed with Coarctation of the Aorta and a Bicuspid Aortic Valve at the age of 33 following a freak bike crash which required a CT scan.
I’ve never had any symptoms but I’m having a stent fitted in the next couple of months. At diagnosis I was actually asked if I had any problems using my legs, which I found amusing.
Are there any other cyclists out there with congenital heart conditions?
I go on all the forums and groups for people with CHD and most people seem to barely be able to walk up the stairs! Is this my future or can people with CHD be cyclists/athletes too?
I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse a number of years ago. It seems to have little to no bearing on my life and no restrictions. I see the cardiologist every other year for monitoring and a heart ultrasound. It may get worse or it may never change.
I was diagnosed with bicuspid aortic valve as well aged 50 during checkup with a cardiologist. They also asked me if I felt any symptoms which I didn’t.
I raced at cat 1 in 90s and have quite a stressful job but never felt anything. Started riding seriously again at 40 then hit my best ever (since I had a PM) numbers two months after the diagnosis.
Had a two year check up last year and no change, told me “keep doing what you’re doing”
Bicuspid valve here as well. Somewhat confusing guidance from the Dr between “everything’s’ fine, keep doing what you’re dong” but also “prolonged periods of elevated heart rate are bad”. Never noticed any ill effects from it personally, but from reading more about it, it seems like the sort of thing you may not notice ill effects from until something is seriously wrong.
That makes sense. The part that is less clear is whether sustained high exertion like we do while cycling is likely to lead to that outcome sooner and/or make it more severe.
The tl;dr is that we don’t know because the medical society hasn’t cared about exercise long enough to study it over the course of decades.
This recent paper indicates that you can send it with deleterious effects. The recommendations regarding the type of exercise you can do are based on the consequences of the bicuspid valve (e.g., the degree of valvular disease, aortic root changes) and the resultant hemodynamic changes that can occur. That is something we know a bit about, and your cardiologist can provide physical activity recommendations in that realm.
I would recommend trying to see a sports cardiologist. There are several clinics in the US. Feel free to DM for offline recommendations. Unfortunately, you have a nuanced question for the general cardiologist: of course the benefits of exercise outweigh the risks (that is, doing an hour of Z2 five days per week is better for your health, valve included, than doing nothing)—your question is about specific exercise protocols and progression of disease given your current baseline. It’s worth seeing a specialist who thinks about this a lot.