Von Willebrand (VW) disease is a complicated condition which affects your body’s ability to form blood clots. As a result, you bleed profusely following a cut or injury. The bleeding can be so dangerous that it can seriously harm your internal organs such as your lungs. There have also been reported cases of death by this condition, however, these are very rare. This condition is caused by the lack or absence of a protein found in the blood which helps regulate your blood flow. This protein is known as Von Willebrand factor and helps your body form blood clots. Medical science claims that this disease is often times hereditary, which means its genetic. Other times it develops as a result of other medical conditions. More surprisingly, humans are not the only ones being affected by this disease, other animals such as dogs, swine, cattle, and cat are also the ones affected by this.
A person who engages in regular fitness activity and is affected by this disease needs to cautiously determine which exercises to do and which not to. However, it is important that people affected by this disease engage in some form of physical exercise to keep their joints healthy and strong. Another important implication of exercising is higher levels of VWD levels in the blood. The person affected by VWD has to figure out the types of activities that he can engage in comfortably.
- In type 1 VWD, you have a low level of the von Willebrand factor, and you may have lower levels of factor VIII than normal. This is the mildest and most common form of VWD. About 3 out of every 4 people with VWD have type 1 VWD.
- In type 2 VWD, the von Willebrand factor does not work the way it?s supposed to. Type 2 VWD is divided into subtypes 2A, 2B, 2M, and 2N. Each type is caused by different gene mutations and treated differently. This makes knowing the exact type of VWD that you have very important.
- In type 3 VWD, you usually have no von Willebrand factor and low levels of factor VIII. Type 3 is the most serious form of VWD, but very rare.
A person categorized as type 1 patient may partake in all kinds of sports whereas someone suffering through type 3 may only participate in mild and non-aggressive sports where the risk of injury is low.
