CARDIAC REHABILITATION

Medical science has progressed to a point where people who have suffered heart disease are not destined to a life of bed rest. In fact cardiac rehabilitation programs are based on getting the patient active as soon as possible. These programs are based on three phases.

PHASE 1
begins when the patient is still in the hospital after suffering a heart attack or after having a cardiac operation. Supervised by a coronary care nurse, small exercise accomplishments are encouraged such as walking down the hall or up a smll flight of stairs. During the hospital stay, each exercise accomplishment is recorded and daily increases in the amount of exercise performed are encouraged.

PHASE 2
begins once the patient is released from hospital. They return to the hospital setting three times per week to exercise while being closely monitored.  Each person wears mobile ECG leads that transmit back to a monitor watched by the coronary care nurse. Bikes and treadmills are the most common modes of exercise during phase 2. This phase normally lasts for several months. Once the exercise response is stable and the patient feels 'recovered' passes  criteria set by the cardiologist on an exercise ECG test, they graduate on to phase 3.

PHASE 3
is considered a long-term maintenance exercise program. Community facilities or fitness centres are used to provide structured exercise sessions for people who have experienced cardiac events. An exercise specialist trained to work with this population, and a coronary care nurse who is there to help monitor heart rates and blood pressures and to handle any emergencies, supervise the sessions. Emergency medical equipment on site is essential and the program remains affiliated with the hospital.