Why Do CR

 Why Do Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation?

Per the AACVPR, "The primary goal of cardiac rehabilitation is to enable the participant to achieve his/her optimal physical, psychological, and social functioning through exercise training and lifestyle change."

Cardiac and Pulmonary rehabilitation is important to both the patient's physical and mental healing. Often after a cardiac or pulmonary event, procedure, or new diagnosis,  an individual is processing a large amount of new information that involve many new changes in their life.  It can be a very stressful for many - both physically and mentally.  Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation helps to provide the needed support after major events in their life and improves not only the short term, daily life, but it also increases the likelihood of making long-term, lifestyle changes. 

Image Courtesy of: <https://cascademedicalfoundation.org/node/797>

What Does Cardiac Rehabilitation Provide?

As a service, cardiac rehabilitation includes:

• Prescribed exercise to improve cardiovascular fitness without exceeding safe limits.
• Education about heart disease along with counseling on ways to stabilize or reverse heart disease by improving risk factors.
• Reduction/Cessation of Smoking
• Lowering Cholesterol
• Controlling High Blood Pressure
• Weight Loss/Control
• Improve/Manage Diabetes
• Increasing Physical Activity
• Encourage Healthy Eating Habits
• Improve Psychological Well Being

Those who benefit from Cardiac Rehabilitation include those with a history of:

• Myocardial infarction (heart attack)
• Coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG)
• Current stable angina pectoris
• Heart valve repair or replacement
• Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA)/ or coronary stenting
• Heart or heart-lung transplant
• Heart Failure and those with ventricular assist devices
• Coronary artery disease equivalents such as diabetes or peripheral artery disease

<Information courtesy of the AACVPR webiste: https://www.aacvpr.org/Cardiac-Patient-Resources>