Can you still golf with an Ascending Aortic root aneurysm?

I have had 2 aneurysm surgeries[ abdomen & thoracic] in the last 2 years and can barely walk 9 holes on a fairly flat course.

My thoughts are, if your a John daily, with a grip it and rip it , or a Freddy couples (very smooth swing) but you should know him if you've been golfing for 4o years. Jd swing.. maybe not, Freddy swing, no problems. The big key is now (ithink they call it) valvulsa stress. Like holding your breath while picking up something heavy.
Me personally , I used to have a "are my shoes still on " swing. Hard as I could get after it. My assending is at 4.4 and I would love to get out there , but at 70, I'm betting my swing wouldn't get me much past 200, and that would just make me sad.

I have received only general guidance from my doctors and nurses, mostly listen to your body and avoid the valsalva maneuver, which means no heavy weight lifting. General feedback is fine, but we have to make specific decisions, so I went to Chat GPT and Grok to see if I could get more definitive guidance. For example, AI said no softball for me because the overhead throwing, bat swinging and sprinting can be problematic for someone with an aneurysm of our size - maybe that provides a decent comparison when you're making your decisions. I'd speculate that golf is fine for you (I play, too), hockey is probably a "no" and tennis seems iffy. Maybe there are pickleball courts near you? Just my non-medical opinion as we navigate our new normal. I'll close by saying that if I make a mistake, I will err on the side of being overly cautious. Exercise is fun, but the stakes of pushing too hard are too great of a risk.

@jefftalley i just signed up... partly b/c of ur post... i also am a 65 yr old male athlete w a 4.6 cm dilated ascending aortic aneurysm ... i recently found out on my own recognizant,,, asymptomatic, but just decided i wanted to finally see a cardiologist (nvr been) just in case my interval training HR max of 175bpm was mayb doin me more harm than good...
and sure enuf, i have an aneurysm... which after following up with a visit to a top shelf nyc AA surgeon, we will do anthr Echo in 6 mths to monitor...
but what now?... competitive tennis and hockey are my goto sports--- maybe i should concentrate on a new direction now?... Golf (but it can be an aggravating sport no doubt)

Imo , I think you need to check with your vascular people or cardiothoracic.

Good luck, God bless

I’m 65. My aneurysm at the root is 4.8cm and I golf weekly with no concerns. The METS chart I saw showed it to be just fine.

My doc said golf is ok, actually encouraged me to go because walking is great exercise. I am 70 with a 5.0 cm aorta measured every 6 months. No growth in 3 years.

I think we need a little more background to address your question about Golf. If you have an existing anortic aneurysm, which is untreated, that would indicate to me that you deal with any treatment needs before you go golfing and then wait till after you’re fully healed up before you go driving any balls 300 yards. The real issues are force applied to your Thorax and blood pressure. If golfing increases your blood pressure then you shouldn’t do it if you’ve got pending surgical repair for your aorta. If you’ve had your aorta completely replaced like I have, with Dacron graft, you should be just fine to Golf after healing up. I golf Half dozen times year. I have been golfing since probably two years after my surgery nine years ago. The real problem if you’ve had open-heart surgery with golfing is that the force necessary to swing a golf club and hit a ball is significant and you aren’t gonna feel comfortable yanking on that freshly Cut sternum. That said, things heal up after a couple years to the point where you’re going to feel up for golf.

In summary, I wouldn’t recommend big golf outings if you’ve got an untreated aortic aneurysm.

Hi Neil. I think if your form is consistently good, according to the article Justin (our moderator) posted, long drives should be ok. Not so for me personally, because I have a lower skill set with inconsistent form through the swing. I have chosen to stick to putting, which obviously does not require any risk of rotational torque through the thoracic area. A boring choice for most people, but it gets me out. I have altered a few other activities to accommodate the "rotation", as that is the way my cardiologist explained the concept, and I am applying his description to my individual activities. Get out and stay active, and have fun, no matter what!
Cheers!!!

Does this mean you should not try to hit long drives