The first phase is inpatient cardiac rehab. While you’re still in the hospital, cardiac rehab specialists will help you get used to typical, everyday activities like walking and sitting up in bed.
Build Long-Term Habits for Better Heart Health
Cardiac rehabilitation is a comprehensive treatment program you can do after having a heart and vascular surgery or treatment of a cardiac issue like a heart attack. In cardiac rehab, you’ll recover, get stronger and learn new healthy lifestyle skills. If your provider recommends cardiac rehab, it’s important that you participate. The American Heart Association notes that cardiac rehab can reduce your risk of dying from heart or vascular disease by about 30% compared to those who don’t participate.
As one of the top-rated heart care programs in the nation, our commitment to providing you with the best possible care goes beyond diagnosis and treatment. Cardiac rehab isn’t easy. But you’ll have personalized education and support from our dedicated team.
What Can I Expect During Cardiac Rehab?
Your doctor will recommend intensive cardiac rehabilitation (ICR) or traditional cardiac rehabilitation (CR) depending on your needs and capabilities. Both programs focus on heart-healthy diet, proper exercise and modified behaviors that lead to a longer and healthier life.
You’ll be able to exercise under the supervision of a cardiac exercise physiologist, who will teach you how to safely incorporate physical activity into your regular life and help you feel more confident in your body’s abilities. Our educational sessions cover cholesterol and blood pressure management and stress reduction, as well as smoking cessation, diet modification and weight loss.
How Cardiac Rehab Helped Molly After a Cardiac Catheterization
At age 31, Molly began experiencing chest pain, which she initially attributed to anxiety and stress. Following a cardiac catheterization, she was diagnosed with early-onset coronary heart disease and was referred to our cardiac rehabilitation program. Learn how cardiac rehab helped Molly love exercise, lose 50 pounds and gain more strength than ever.
Phases of Cardiac Rehabilitation
There are three phases of cardiac rehab that we’ve designed to help you manage your health at every stage of your recovery.
Early outpatient cardiac rehab, or the second phase, starts soon after you leave the hospital and includes exercise and education sessions with cardiac rehabilitation specialists. Your custom exercise sessions will likely focus on cardiovascular and strength training for 30 to 60 minutes, three times per week. Don’t worry if you’ve never worked out before. Your cardiac rehab team will show you how to exercise safely and properly. Your cardiac rehab team will also help you reduce any anxiety you may have about exercising after dealing with your heart condition.
You’ll also attend group and individual education sessions that cover topics such as:
- Exercise prescription
- Heart-healthy nutrition
- Heart disease risk factors and medications
- Smoking cessation
- The importance of sleep and a healthy mindset
We encourage your loved ones to join you for education classes. Our goal is to strengthen your heart and increase your endurance while giving you the knowledge to slow the progression of heart disease.
The third part of cardiac rehab is the wellness phase. When you and doctor decide you’re ready, you’ll move onto practicing the new healthy living skills more independently. You’ll still be able to ask questions to your exercise physiologists.
What Conditions Can Cardiac Rehab Improve?
Our cardiac rehab can help with your recovery from many heart and vascular conditions and procedures, including:
- Angina
- Coronary angioplasty and stents
- Coronary artery bypass surgery
- Heart attack
- Heart transplant
- Stable systolic heart failure
- Valve surgery