‘Yeah, an ablation on the heart,’ Harbaugh said when asked by reporters at the Chargers’ end-of-year press conference.
Harbaugh briefly left the Chargers’ Week 6 game in Denver after experiencing an atrial flutter, a type of arrhythmia that causes the heart to beat at an abnormally high rate. He was escorted to the locker room during Los Angeles’ first offensive series early in the first quarter by the team’s medical staff. The head coach was treated by doctors in the locker room and his heart returned to normal rhythm. He came back to the contest with a little more than seven minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter took over as the Chargers’ interim head coach during Harbaugh’s brief absence.
The 61-year-old head coach has dealt with atrial flutter episodes before. He had a flare-up in 2012 when he was the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers.
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
Harbaugh also disclosed that he is set to have hip surgery this offseason as well.
‘Going to get a hip replacement, too,’ Harbaugh said.
The Chargers head coach walked with a noticeable limp during the season.
Harbaugh and the Chargers lost, 32-12, to the Houston Texans in the wild-card round of the playoffs. In Harbaugh’s first year in Los Angeles, the Chargers finished 11-6 during the regular season.
Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.
