Rehab

Cardiac Rehab

Cardiac rehabilitation is a program, which include education, comprehensive exercise and behavioral modification designed to improve the emotional and physical condition of patients with heart disease. You can referred to a cardiac rehabilitation program after a hear attack, heart surgery or a diagnosis of heart disease.

Programs for cardiac rehabilitations are available at most hospitals or within local communities across the country. The program should be designed to meet the patient's specific requirements. The main goals of cardiac rehabilitation are:

to increase functional capacity
to reduce risk factors of another heart problem or the worsening of a hear condition
to improve outlook and emotional stability
to improve quality of life
to increase knowledge about disease and increase self-management

The above goals are achieved by nutritional counseling, supervised exercise training, stress management, careful monitoring of heart health and aggressive management. The phase II rehabilitation also called as outpatient cardiac rehabilitation. It usually lasts about 12 weeks and involves 36 sessions.

A cardiac rehab program generally includes:

Educational classes: on lifestyle changes and disease management
Diet instruction: individual counseling to group classes
Exercise program: varies from a structured, monitored program to a more independent, less monitored program
Emotional support: individual, group and peer support

With close medical monitoring and improved programs, cardiac rehabilitation is the best option of people of all ages having many forms of heart disease including those who have recently had or been diagnosed with:

heart failure
heart attack
chest pain due to clogged arteries
angioplasty or stent placement
bypass surgery
pacemaker implanted
peripheral artery disease
congenital (present at birth) heart disease
heart transplant

The important parts of the cardiac rehab program are education and counseling programs. In the rehab program the risk factors will be searched and an advice is given to reduce them, including strategies for stopping smoking and dietary tips to reduce fat and cholesterol levels.

Counseling programs in the rehabilitation process may focus on depression and other factors experienced by people facing heart problems or following heart surgery like getting back to work, managing stress, and new physical limitations.

Medication is the other important part of the cardiac rehabilitation process. This involves aspirin or other antiplatelet agents that prevent blood clots and maintain proper blood flow through arteries. Satins reduce cholesterol and beta blockers, angitensin receptor blockers (ARBs), ACE inhibitors for controlling blood pressure.

Cardiac Rehab Exercise