Tips for Heart Patients - Exercise Rehabilitation

Exercise rehabilitation for heart disease patients

If you have high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, hyperlipidemia and other diseases, the first thing you think of is to go to the hospital for treatment and then take certain medications under the guidance of the doctor. However, modern medical theory tells people that relying solely on medication can reduce elevated blood pressure and blood lipids to normal and relieve angina pectoris, but it cannot exercise your cardiovascular function and restore it to the state before the onset of the disease.

If you do not do exercise rehabilitation training and adjust your lifestyle, your disease will inevitably relapse. Therefore, do not forget to do exercise rehabilitation training while taking medicine.

As the saying goes, "Life lies in movement" may be due to this.

For example, the National Joint Committee on Hypertension of the United States officially identified exercise therapy as a treatment method for hypertension in 1988. Generally, after fully implementing exercise therapy, systolic blood pressure can drop by an average of 10-12 mmHg , and diastolic blood pressure can drop by an average of 5-10 mmHg . This shows that exercise therapy is of great significance to cardiovascular diseases.

What are the common exercise therapies?

The types of exercise or muscle contraction that can produce cardiovascular emergency response include: static exercise (isometric contraction) and dynamic exercise (isotonic contraction) .

Isometric contractions are continuous muscle contractions without limb movement, such as making a fist. The cardiovascular response to this type of exercise is more difficult to control.

Isometric exercise produces limb movement, and the cardiovascular response is proportional to the intensity of the exercise, which is beneficial to the recovery of cardiovascular diseases. For example, aerobic exercise such as fast walking, jogging, cycling and swimming, and resistance exercise such as dumbbell exercise and elastic band exercise.

What should you pay attention to when exercising?

1) Under the guidance of a doctor, choose appropriate exercise and exercise volume , pay attention to pulse, blood pressure changes and self-feeling, and immediately stop exercising and have a physical examination if any adverse symptoms occur.

2) Start with a small amount of exercise and maintain an appropriate amount of exercise , practice regularly (3 times a week). The amount of exercise should be determined on an individual basis, and do not participate in intense competitions.

3) Encourage participation in group activities so that students can help each other in case of unexpected situations.

4) Sports rehabilitation is mainly aerobic exercise , such as brisk walking, jogging, cycling, etc., 30 minutes each time, 3 times a week.

5) Strength training should start with light weights , 10 times per set, 1 to 2 sets, preferably twice a week.

6) Remember to do 5 minutes of warm-up exercises before exercise, which can be done by slow walking. Also remember to do 5 minutes of cool-down exercises after exercise, which can also be done by slow walking.

7) Attention should be paid to combining exercise rehabilitation with nutrition, lifestyle, medication, etc. for comprehensive treatment .

8) It is best to go to the hospital for an exercise capacity assessment (methods include cardiopulmonary exercise test, electrocardiogram exercise test), and then have the doctor issue an exercise prescription and conduct scientific and reasonable exercise rehabilitation training according to the exercise prescription.

9) Exercise rehabilitation training must be carried out under the guidance of a doctor or rehabilitation therapist who has experience in cardiac exercise rehabilitation.

I hope that exercise training can become a rehabilitation tool that will benefit you throughout your life.

This issue was edited by Li Shoulin and reviewed by Zheng Zhichang

About the Author:

Chief physician, associate professor, doctor of medicine, currently deputy director of the Department of Cardiology, Beijing Boai Hospital, China Rehabilitation Research Center. He has been engaged in clinical work in cardiology for a long time and has rich experience. He is good at cardiac rehabilitation assessment and treatment of patients with cardiovascular diseases. He has published more than 40 papers, 2 English SCI papers, co-edited 3 books, and co-translated 1 book. He has won 2 scientific research achievement awards. Social part-time jobs: Deputy leader of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Science Popularization Professional Group of the Science Popularization Health Education Working Committee of the China Medical Education Association; member of the Board of Directors of the Beijing Hypertension Prevention and Treatment Association; member of the Standing Committee of the Geriatric Rehabilitation Branch of the China Geriatric Health Care Medicine Research Association; editorial board member of the Journal of Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Medicine.