What is cardiac rehabilitation?

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide. And, although there are many factors that can influence the development of this type of ailment: smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity or a sedentary lifestyle, good physical fitness can be fundamental in preventing them.

At the Grupo Juaneda we know how important it is to take care of the heart. That is why, together with the cardiology team led by Dr. Joan Alguersuari, Dr. Miguel Chiacchio has launched the cardiac rehabilitation programme.

This is a supervised medical programme based on physical exercise - on a treadmill or bicycle - that helps to improve the physical condition and the heart of a person who has had a heart problem: whether it is a heart attack, heart surgery or even a transplant.

Always referred by a cardiologist, patients must undergo a preliminary interview in order to evaluate them and check whether they meet all the conditions to undergo cardiac rehabilitation. Once we are sure that the patient is suitable, a personalised programme will be drawn up for them, which will last between 1 and 3 months, depending on their needs.

Cardiac rehabilitation is recommended by all international cardiac societies. It is very important to improve quality of life. However, as well as being safe, it must be effective. For this we must take into account the dosage of cardiac rehabilitation in the patient: the weekly frequency, duration of the sessions and, above all, the intensity. A certain intensity will be what benefits the patient and best protects his or her heart.

In addition, it is important to take two things into account:

1.  Time: it is essential to start rehabilitation as soon as possible as this will reduce the risk of relapse by 20 to 30% during the year following the heart attack or surgery.

2.  Continuity: the rehabilitation phase must be continued on a day-to-day basis. To this end, we draw up a subsequent programme to be done at home and/or in the gym. It is very important that the effects of exercise are continuous. It is therefore important to try to change your lifestyle: lose weight, avoid anxiety and stress, give up smoking, etc.

Despite not having suffered from any cardiovascular disease, there are people at risk for whom it may be beneficial to carry

out a short preventive cardiac rehabilitation programme in order to know the appropriate dose of exercise for them: duration, weekly frequency and intensity.

People of a certain age, with a sedentary lifestyle or diabetes, hypertension or cholesterol, people who smoke, etc.

Cardiac rehabilitation protects the heart and, at the Juaneda Group, we help you to achieve this.

Juaneda, close to you.

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