Sports medication specialist Dr. Kody Moffatt is aware of how seeing Damar Hamlin collapse in cardiac arrest on “Monday Night Football” has frightened mother and father of younger athletes.

“Almost every family that I’ve seen in clinic since Tuesday morning has asked about this,” mentioned Moffatt, division chief of sports activities medication at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. “They were worried about chest impacts.”

Such life-threatening accidents are extraordinarily uncommon, and although it now seems that the 24-year-old Buffalo Bills security is recovering, the incident was a intestine punch reminder of how rapidly accidents can occur.

Doctors on the University of Cincinnati Medical Center have not introduced what precisely brought on Hamlin’s cardiac arrest — the sudden lack of coronary heart perform — however throughout a information briefing Thursday they did not rule out a phenomenon known as commotio cordis.

Commotio cordis occurs when a projectile — usually a hockey puck or a baseball, for instance — collides with an individual’s chest, throwing the guts’s electrical system out of whack. The particular person goes into doubtlessly lethal cardiac arrest.

Immediate CPR and an automatic exterior defibrillator (AED) are essential within the moments that comply with, and that’s how Damar Hamlin survived, specialists mentioned.

“The rapid response is what saved this player’s life,” mentioned Dr. William Roberts, a sports activities medication specialist on the University of Minnesota.

Commotio cordis happens lower than a few dozen instances a yr within the U.S. Could chest protectors stop the issue? With the pads costing as much as $100 or extra, are they value it?

“When it’s your child, it’s not rare,” mentioned Karen Acompora, board chair for Parent Heart Watch, a bunch that advocates for higher cardiac protections in youth sports activities.

Acompora’s son, Louis, was taking part in in his first highschool lacrosse recreation on New York’s Long Island in 2000 when a blow to his chest resulted in commotio cordis. CPR was administered, however there have been no AEDs on website.

Louis was solely 14 when he died. His mom has been pushing for chest safety in youth sports activities ever since.

“I don’t understand why youth sports don’t jump all over safety before a problem” happens, Acompora mentioned.

It wasn’t till 2019 that the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, developed standards for chest protectors.

In 2022, USA Lacrosse mandated that every one youth lacrosse gamers put on chest safety.

Though medical doctors haven’t mentioned whether or not Hamlin’s harm was certainly commotio cordis, Acompora is glad to see the situation getting nationwide consideration.

“I’m hoping with this latest incident that people will open their eyes and say, hmm, maybe we need to do something.”

There are combined opinions about chest safety in youth sports activities.

A 2017 study led by Tufts Medical Center in Boston discovered that chest protectors, particularly ones that incorporate Kevlar, could “be effective in the prevention of commotio cordis on the playing field.”

Stephens, who was not concerned within the Tufts research, defined that Kevlar works by spreading the power of an influence, quite than permitting a projectile to focus all its power in a single spot.

But the research was carried out utilizing pigs, not people. That’s not sufficient scientific proof to again utilizing chest protectors in youth sports activities, mentioned Dr. Matthew Silvis, director of sports activities medication at Penn State Health.

Silvis was involved {that a} chest protector may give a false sense of safety.

“What you wouldn’t want is someone who’s wearing a chest protector to think, well I’m protected from this injury, and now I can play a little bit more reckless,” Silvis mentioned.

Until Monday night time’s NFL recreation, Dr. Chad Stephens, an interventional ache and sports activities medication specialist in non-public apply close to Dallas, had inspired chest pads just for highschool sports activities resembling baseball and lacrosse, through which commotio cordis is extra frequent.

“I was not an advocate for players to have a chest pad for non-projectile sports,” Stephens mentioned. “I wasn’t as convinced that something like that could happen” in soccer. This is making me rethink my complete stance.”

Rob Vito, chief executive officer and founder of Unequal Technologies said his phone has been ringing nonstop with calls from coaches, players and parents.

The company makes chest pads that include Kevlar, the same material used in bulletproof vests.

“We’re getting calls from soccer mothers and baseball dads,” said Vito. “Every sport is reaching out.”

Can commotio cordis be prevented?

Instead of investing in chest protection equipment, Penn State Health’s Silvis advises coaches to teach their young players proper technique when faced with an oncoming ball or hockey puck.

Players should learn to turn their body as much as possible to the side in these cases, with the goal of avoiding a collision to the chest.

The best way to save kids from dying from cardiac arrest on the playing field is to make sure coaches and players know CPR, and to have quick access to AEDs, said the University of Minnesota’s Roberts.

“If we’re wanting on the threat discount of including a chest plate, in comparison with the chance discount of coaching everyone in hands-only CPR having an AED out there at websites, it might fall closely on CPR and AEDs when it comes to lives saved,” said Roberts, who is affiliated with the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

Rather than parents buying a chest protector, “how will we be sure our coaches and folks which are at these video games are CPR skilled?'” Silvis asked.

There was widespread agreement that AEDs are necessary at all sporting events — not only for players but also for coaches, parents, grandparents and others watching the games.

Despite a lack of data showing chest protectors always protect against commotio cordis, young athletes involved in baseball, hockey and lacrosse may want to consider them, Moffatt said.

“There’s little hurt and definitely there might be important profit,” Moffatt said. “As a dad in addition to a health care provider, I love to do issues to guard my children.”

Follow NBC HEALTH on Twitter & Facebook.