It was only after repeated warnings of atrial fibrilliation from his Apple Watch that basketball legend Sean Elliott sought help and had essential treatment.
Apple Watch health monitoring
The heart rate sensors in Apple Watch have previously helped people such as authors learn that they have atrial fibrillation. Now it was athlete, basketball star, and commentator Sean Elliott who got the notification — and ignored it.
According to San Antonio TV station KSAT, Elliott paid no attention to his Apple Watch because he had no recognizable symptoms.
“My watch kept telling me you’re in Atrial Fibrillation… it just kept telling me over and over again and I said, ‘there’s no way, I feel fine,'” he said. “For four or five days, I just blew it off, but one morning, it told me two or three times, and I said, okay, I’m going to call Dr. Triana,” said Elliott.
Dr. Triana is Elliott’s longtime cardiologist and on taking the call, told him to come to hospital immediately. Elliott did, and had a successful cardioversion procedure which shocked his heart back into the correct rhythm.
“Thank goodness I was wearing my watch because imagine going a month or two with Afib and not knowing it because it wasn’t going away once it was diagnosed,” said Elliott, who was able to go home that same evening.
“It kind of took on a life of its own. It’s something that was totally unexpected,” he continued. “I was home that night.”
“I’m just thrilled to be healthy right now and really looking forward to next year because there are going to be great things to come, I promise you that,” said Elliott. “Obviously with a kidney transplant, I’m living, breathing proof of what medical technology can do for you.”
“Stay on top of it,” he said. “Get yourself checked or make sure you’re not in Afib like I was again. I had absolutely no idea.”
Separately, basketball’s NBA has been saying since July 2023 that it is working closely with Apple. It’s expected to increasingly feature in Apple Vision Pro sports coverage.