Sports Cardiology
During high-intensity physical activity, your heart rate and blood pressure can rise significantly. As a result, your cardiovascular system may adapt and cause the heart muscle to thicken and grow in size.
This type of change can also be a result of disease. If you are an athlete and have heart problems, you need a sports cardiologist who can determine if changes are related to exercise or disease.
Patients We Serve
Our sports cardiology program is designed to evaluate athletes and highly active individuals (16 years and older) with heart-related issues.
We treat athletes with symptoms related to the heart and those with a known cardiac diagnosis. We can also give you an evaluation before starting an exercise program.
Our goal is to allow all athletes to continue to participate in the sport of their choice.
Conditions We Treat
Conditions our cardiology sports clinic can help resolve or evaluate include:
- Family history of heart disease or sudden cardiac death.
- Any symptom you have during exercise or rest that concerns you.
- Any decline in performance.
- Abnormal initial sports screening.
- Abnormal routine physical exam during sports screening.
- Abnormal EKG, echocardiogram or exercise stress test.
- Previously diagnosed cardiac conditions such as arrhythmias (atrial fibrillation), hypertension or cardiomyopathy.
We also provide clearance for return to play after an illness or treatment, including COVID-19.
Meet Our Sports Cardiologist
Ajit Raisinghani, MD, is a board-certified cardiologist and the clinical service chief and director of the Noninvasive Imaging Lab at UC San Diego School of Medicine. He also has further training in sports cardiology. He has evaluated and taken care of professional and Olympic athletes as well as individuals who participate in intense exercise.
Dr. Raisinghani works closely with the UC San Diego Health Sports Medicine Program as well as our affiliates at San Diego Sports Medicine and Oasis MD Lifestyle Healthcare.
He is an avid cyclist and understands that athletes would like to continue to participate in their sport. That will always be the goal as long as it is safe for you.