The Importance of Cardiac Rehabilitation

Nancy Ponder | posted February 11, 2010 |

Having worked in home healthcare for more than 20 years, I’m often asked about what it takes to maintain a healthy heart. But rarely do I get questions about what it takes to keep a heart healthy after suffering a heart attack, undergoing heart surgery or recovering from other cardiac problems.

I find this ironic in some ways, because this is the essential question to returning your heart back to health.

Cardiac rehabilitation^* in general is a medically supervised program that helps patients recover from a cardiac event, such as a heart attack. The program is used to stabilize, slow or even reverse the progression of cardiovascular disease, ultimately reducing the risk of heart disease, another heart attack or even death.

All cardiac rehab programs base themselves in exercise routines and strength training. Patients can benefit from effective physical therapy routines to improve function and quality of life. For many, encouraging a moderate-but-tolerable level of activity will result in attaining an overall higher level of activity. All program activities are supervised by medical professionals, who track progress, note any changes in symptoms, and make appropriate adjustments as needed.

Understanding your risk factors and personal health can help you modify your lifestyle to reduce the likelihood of future heart problems, so in addition to physical exercise, programs also include planning and counseling sessions with a medical professional. These discussions help you develop exercise and diet plans, identify and modify future risk factors (such as high blood pressure, smoking and high cholesterol levels, among other things), and provide emotional support and vocational guidance (to help you return to work as soon as possible).

While cardiac rehab may sound pretty intense (and believe me, it can be for some people), it’s interesting to note that the programs can also be used also as a means to improve your overall lifestyle. Over my career, I’ve seen people use these programs as a means to get in shape, quit smoking, improve their diets, manage stress and more.

I remember one young man (in his 80s) who had severely restricted his activities due to a recent heart attack, but after entering a cardiac rehab program he was able to start back doing the things he enjoyed again. As a nurse, there is no greater joy for me than seeing patients "come alive" again. 

^* The information above pertains to cardiac rehabilitation in general and not to Medicare-certified cardiac rehabilitation.