Myocarditis in Runners

Myocarditis, or inflammation of the muscle of the heart, is a rare condition. It affects about 1-2 people per 10,000 each year, but this adds up to be around 1.5 million annually (Kang, 2021). It will typically cause chest pain, especially with lying down or leaning back and/or shortness of breath, especially with exercise. This condition has received a lot of attention because of links to both COVID-19 and the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in young people.

The reason we care about myocarditis is, even though most people who get it have a mild disease that will resolve with time, very rarely people will develop severe cases that end in permanent heart damage or scarring that may predispose the heart to stopping suddenly later in