Cardiac Rehabilitation: Recovering After Heart Problems

Cardiac rehabilitation (rehab) is a medically supervised programme for people who have had or have:

• a heart attack;
• angioplasty or coronary artery bypass grafting for coronary heart disease;
• a heart valve repair or replacement;
• a heart or lung transplant;
• angina;
• heart failure.

The goal

To help you return to an active life and lower the risk of further heart problems.

What it includes

A team of specialists draws up a plan with:

• exercise training;
• education on heart-healthy living;
• counselling to reduce stress.

You learn to reduce your risk factors: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression and diabetes — and also being overweight or obese, smoking and not exercising.

Sources

• "Cardiac Rehabilitation," MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, drawing on the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH). https://medlineplus.gov/cardiacrehabilitation.html
• Rewritten in hubnx's own words.