Portland Trail Blazers Guard Wesley Matthews Sidelined by Irregular Heartbeat

Peter Socotch of CSNNW.com reports the illness that sidelined Wesley Matthews for yesterday's training camp practice was an irregular heartbeat, or atrial fibrillation. This is the second occurrence for Matthews in as many years.

Socotch writes:

Matthews left midway through practice Wednesday because he said he felt it become irregular and knew exactly what was going on as soon as it occurred.

It has since corrected itself.

Matthews doesn't believe it is anything serious and anticipates being back on the court in the near future.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute describes atrial fibrillation as a type of arrhythmia, a problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat.

During an arrhythmia, the heart can beat too fast, too slow, or with an irregular rhythm.

AF occurs if rapid, disorganized electrical signals cause the heart's two upper chambers-called the atria (AY-tree-uh)-to fibrillate. The term "fibrillate" means to contract very fast and irregularly.

In AF, blood pools in the atria. It isn't pumped completely into the heart's two lower chambers, called the ventricles (VEN-trih-kuls). As a result, the heart's upper and lower chambers don't work together as they should...

AF may happen rarely or every now and then, or it may become an ongoing or long-term heart problem that lasts for years.

--Dave blazersub@gmail.com / @DaveDeckard / @Blazersedge