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Cardiac Rehabilitation
If you or a loved one are just recovering from a heart attack, walking on a treadmill may be the last thing you're interested in. Normally, you just feel tired, depressed and just worried about survival.
However, exercising under the watchful eyes of your health care team through a cardiac rehabilitation program may help your chances of survival and lead to a faster recovery.
Guidelines released by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research show that cardiac rehabilitation decreases anginal pain and improves heart failure symptoms such as shortness of breath and fatigue. Comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation has been shown to reduce death rates in patients after heart attack by 25 percent.
If you're adjusting to life after a heart attack, or you're living with certain other heart diseases, cardiac rehabilitation may help you feel better than you thought was possible. Cardiac rehabilitation is a customized program of exercise and education. Your physician will almost certainly recommend a rehabilitation program as well as a lifestyle change.
The goals of cardiac rehabilitation are to help you regain strength, to prevent your condition from worsening, and to reduce your risk of future heart problems. All in the best interest of your physician, your family, and most of all, you!
"Heart disease patients should ask for cardiac rehabilitation if it is not offered," said Dr. Erika S. Froelicher, R.N., Ph.D., Professor of Nursing at the University of California San Fransisco. "Patients should look for flexibility in a program so that they can stick with it."
Cardiac rehabilitation has four main components:
Medical Evaluation A thorough evaluation helps your health care team assess your physical abilities, medical limitations and other conditions you may have. Physical Activity No longer is bed rest recommended if you have serious heart problems. Cardiac rehabilitation teams help improve your cardiovascular fitness through walking, cycling, rowing or even jogging.
Lifestyle Education Guidance about diet and nutrition helps you shed excess weight and learn to make healthier food choices. The education is aimed at reducing fat, sodium and cholesterol. Psychosocial Support You may experience depression or anxiety, lose touch with your social support system, or have to stop working for several weeks. Counseling, or vocational or occupational therapy, shows you healthy ways to cope.
Cardiac rehabilitation also gives you ample opportunity to ask questions about such issues as medications and sexual activity.
"Cardiac rehabilitation is an important part of continuum of care for heart disease," said Dr. Michael Horan, M.D., of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institue. "The guidelines are a major step in the fight against heart disease."
by Victor S. Harris Simply Seniors News staff http://www.SimplySeniorsNews.com
Source: www.articlecity.com