Cardiac Rehabilitation is a comprehensive program designed to prepare patients with heart disease for an active and productive lifestyle. A structured cardiac rehabilitation program is crucial to get the patient on the path to recovery and to prevent further illness.
Comprehensive Description
Cardiac Rehabilitation is a customized and medically supervised program to help heart patients return to a healthy and active lifestyle post any cardiac procedure or surgery. This program helps patients make important lifestyle changes to modify their existing lifestyle to lower and prevent the recurrence of future heart problems.
Cardiac Rehabilitation has three important components:
- Exercise counselling and training:
Our one-month exercise program consists of a consultation followed by 12 monitored exercise sessions. Classes are held thrice a week and this program can be further continued for long term health benefits.
- Education for heart-healthy living:
A key element of cardiac rehab is educating yourself about making the necessary lifestyle changes to reduce your risk for heart disease. This can be incorporated by eating a heart-healthy diet, keeping a healthy weight and quitting smoking.
- Counselling to reduce stress:
Stress hurts your heart and imbibing stress management in the rehab program is very beneficial. After being detected with heart disease, and post-surgery too, many patients feel a lack of energy and even depression can set in. This is absolutely normal and can be corrected. Breathing and relaxation techniques and counselling can help give heart patients their confidence back.
Goals of Cardiac Rehabilitation:
- A specialized rehabilitation program helps heart patients recover faster- both physically and emotionally.
- Help the patients and their families achieve the correct education about heart disease and its risk factors- thus reducing the chances of a future episode.
- Motivate the patient to get back to an active lifestyle and return to work faster- which helps to gain confidence and emotional wellbeing.
Exercise Program at CareHabitat:
Medical evaluation:
- A thorough history is taken in the consultation and based on that, a customized exercised program is established. We consider the patient’s risk factors while forming a personalized program to ensure the exercises are safe and effective.
Physical workout:
- All the workouts are monitored and supervised. Resting parameters, as well as post-workout parameters, are also noted in every class. When the patient is on the treadmill and stationary cycle, the heart rate, blood pressure, electrocardiogram (ECG) and the oxygen saturation are all continuously being monitored by our rehabilitation therapist.
- The intensity of the workout is increased with every session based on your parameters, how well you physically feel and your ability to cope with the exercises.
Even if you have not exercised before, we make sure our exercise program is safe for you and the pace is comfortable.
- Muscle strengthening exercises form a large component of the rehab program. Post-surgery, there is a lot of muscular weakness and feeling of tiredness sets in. Patients must strengthen their muscles to get strong and keep fit and this helps to get back to routine faster.
Who benefits from cardiac rehabilitation:
- Post heart attack, currently stable and on medication
- Post coronary artery bypass surgery
- Post angioplasty and stenting
- Post valve replacement surgery
- Heart failure patients, currently stable and on medication
Benefits of cardiac rehabilitation:
- Strengthening your heart and body and increasing work output
- Building healthier habits like quitting smoking and tobacco chewing and incorporating them into your lifestyle
- Reducing the risk of future heart problems
- Exercises help lower your risk factors- lower your blood pressure, lower your cholesterol levels, lower your blood sugar levels, thus maintain optimal body weight
- Reducing stress and learning to cope with the disease
- Improving the quality of life
For patients who have experienced a heart attack, cardiac failure in the past or have undergone angioplasty or any heart surgery or a coronary operation, a structured cardiac rehabilitation program is crucial to get them on the path to recovery and to prevent further illness.