Jim Harbaugh Successfully Undergoes Heart and Hip Surgery
Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh announced on Tuesday that he underwent a successful cardiac ablation and hip replacement surgery during the offseason. “The doctors can’t find anything wrong with me,” Harbaugh stated. “Grade A.”During a game against the Denver Broncos in Week 6 of last season, Harbaugh, 61 years old, experienced atrial fibrillation, a type of arrhythmia that causes the heart to beat at an abnormally high rate. Harbaugh went to the locker room, where paramedics attended to him, and his heart eventually regained a normal rhythm.
Harbaugh returned in the first quarter and directed the rest of that game, then used a heart monitor for two weeks during the season. Harbaugh has had three episodes of atrial fibrillation, the previous one in 2012. At that time, he was coach of the San Francisco 49ers in a game against the Chicago Bears on “Monday Night Football” when he felt an irregular heartbeat, but finished coaching the game and went to the doctors afterward. Regarding Harbaugh’s hip, he previously walked with a significant limp that appears to have diminished with surgery. Harbaugh has previously stated that he would not consider retiring due to his health issues. “My heart would have to stop for me not to be on the team,” Harbaugh said in October.
