About Cardiac Rehabilitation
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What is cardiac rehabilitation?
This is a special medical program developed to assist people in recovery from diseases such as heart attacks and procedures such as heart surgery, angioplasty and stenting. Cardiac rehabilitation also includes counseling services and education which assist the patient to increase physical fitness and health which in turn reduces cardiac symptoms and problems such as heart attacks.
Why go through cardiac rehabilitation? Anyone who has a heart condition or disease can benefit from a cardiac rehabilitation program. The program can assist you to:
- Recover from heart surgery or a heart attack
- Prevent future heart problems, hospital stays and death related to heart problems
- Make necessary lifestyle changes. These includes a healthy diet and being physically active.
- Address risk factors which may lead to heart problems such as coronary heart disease.
Risk factors that can lead to heart problems include: - High blood pressure
- Lack of physical activity
- Obesity
- Depression
- Smoking
- Diabetes
- High blood cholesterol
Who Needs Cardiac Rehabilitation? People of all ages and ethnic backgrounds and both sexes can benefit from cardiac rehabilitation (rehab). Rehab can help people who have had:
- A heart attack
- Percutaneous (per-ku-TA-ne-us) coronary intervention (PCI), sometimes referred to as angioplasty (AN-jee-oh-plas-tee) for coronary heart disease
- Coronary artery bypass grafting for coronary heart disease
- Heart valve repair or replacement
- A heart transplant or a lung transplant
- Stable angina (an-JI-nuh or AN-juh-nuh)
- Heart failure
Cardiac rehab can improve your overall health and prevent future heart problems and even death.
What are the benefits of the program? - Medical evaluation: The doctors use the evaluation to assess your needs and limitations. The evaluation also enables them to tailor a program for you.
- Regular exercise and physical activity: This helps your body and especially the heart to get better and stronger. In addition, it reduces the chances of having heart problems such as heart attacks in the future. During the physical activity, your blood pressure and heart rate are monitored closely. You are also taught how to check your level of activity and heart rate.
- Counseling and education: This can help you make lifestyle changes that will better your heath such as eating right, losing weight, lowering cholesterol levels and blood pressure and to quit smoking. A dietitian may be consulted to assist with creating a healthy nutrition plan. Counseling can involve advice on how to cope with stress, depression, and anger during recovery.
- Advice and close supervision: Healthcare profession also gives you advice on how to improve your overall health so as to reduce the risk of future problems. These professionals also work in conjunction with your doctor.
The team Cardiac rehabilitation requires a continuing commitment from a team of health care professional and yourself. The cardiac rehabilitation team helps you to set goals, offers advice and counseling and creates a tailored plan that improves your overall health. It includes doctors such as a cardiologist and a family doctor, nurses, dietitians, exercise specialists, physical therapists and psychologists. The team is in place to help in monitoring your care.
How long do I need to attend cardiac rehabilitation?
Cardiac rehabilitation programs have individualized plans that help to meet your specific needs. As each plan is different, our specific condition will determine how long the program will last. This can be four weeks, four months or even longer.
Prognosis
Cardiac rehabilitation programs can be beneficial to all people with heart problems or those with the risk factors. Lifestyle changes prepared in the program carry few if any risks. These changes advance your overall health. This averts future heart problems and death.
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