What is Intensive Cardiac Rehab
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the United States recorded about 800,000 heart attack cases every year. Heart attack and other diseases associated with the heart are among the leading causes of death globally. Medical professionals use different methods to relieve the severity of this killer disease. Among the most common treatments for cardiac problems are surgery, heart transplant, and valve replacement. None of this treatment is easy to cope with and mostly leave patients with side effects. They also demand a change in lifestyle after the treatment. Therefore, after being treated for heart problems, doctors usually advise their patients to attend a rehabilitation program. The primary aim of the program is to help them heal fast, reverse other underlying heart issues that may be present, monitor their healing process, avoid complications and future recurrence.
Cardiac rehabilitation or simply cardiac rehab provides assistance and support for people who have heart problems. The program includes exercise sections and counseling on how to live successfully after heart surgery and other heart treatments. It also includes tests and medical checkups. However, doctors have recently discovered a more effective way of helping people with heart-related problems. This is called intensive Cardiac Rehab (ICR). What are the main features of this program, and how is it better than the Cardiac Rehab program?
What Happens at Intensive Cardiac Rehab Center
Intensive cardiac rehab programs function similarly to conventional cardiac rehab programs. It helps people who had cardiac surgery or related treatments heal fast and overcome the side effects of their treatment. It consists of training sections, exercise sections, and counseling sections. However, as the name suggests, the Intensive Cardiac Rehab program offers more intensive support than the cardiac rehab program.
While cardiac rehab programs focus more on exercise and counselling, intensive cardiac rehab programs have room for accommodating training. This is because there is more time for the intensive cardiac rehab program to accommodate adequate training. So, as you have counseling sections, you will also be well trained on implementing what you were counselled on.
At intensive cardiac rehab, you will have more time for more workouts that help strengthen the heart under professional supervision. There will be a counseling section every day. Also, there will be coaching on preparing the most suitable meals, medication compliance, quitting smoking, living without alcohol, avoiding stress, and living a happy, healthy and lovely life.
How Long Does Intensive Cardiac Rehab Take?
The duration of Intensive Cardiac Rehab depends on each center and the condition of the patient. While cardiac rehab is usually done as outpatient treatment, Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation can be an outpatient program or an inpatient program. Whichever one, it involves several hours under intensive supervision and training. A typical outpatient ICR program usually lasts for nine weeks of two sections per week. Each section will last for about four hours. This makes 72 hours in total. That is equivalent to more than a year of an hour-a-week visit to the doctor.
If it is done as an inpatient program, it may take one or two weeks in which the patient stays full time in the center. Being under intensive care and monitoring by professionals for those periods will significantly help the patient to heal. If there are eight hours of counseling, training, exercise, and other activities in a day, it will amount to (8 x 14) hours in two weeks. That will be a total of 112 hours.
Who Needs Intensive Cardiac Rehab?
Intensive Cardiac Rehab is recommended for anyone who has just got treated for any heart-related problem. This may include heart surgery, heart transplant, lung transplant, heart attack, heart valve replacement, high blood pressure, chest pain, and other heart problems.
What to Expect at Intensive Cardiac Rehab
Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation centers have all professionals who can assist heart problem patients in managing their conditions. These professionals include heart doctors or cardiologists, general medical practitioners, nurses, dietitians, and physiologists. These centers will also have professionals in stress management, counsellors, and support facilitators.
Your doctor will discuss with you what to expect before you begin the rehabilitation program. Typically, the program will focus on healing you and helping you prevent future recurrence of your ailment. However, many other activities may also be included. You should expect the following at an Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation program.
- Medical Tests
- Exercise Sessions
- Diet Training
- Counseling on lifestyle changes
- Stress Management Counselling
- Physical and emotional support
What to Expect After Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation
A successful intensive cardiac rehabilitation must achieve its primary goal of making you heal fast. It must also provide you with all the skills and support you need to live happily and healthily after your treatment. If you are undergoing significant lifestyle changes like quitting alcohol and smoking, rehabilitation must have helped you overcome the addiction. After attending an Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation program, you should expect the following changes:
- Better fitness
- Weight loss (If you are overweight)
- Better and healthier lifestyle
- Improved stress management
- Lower risk of heart-related diseases
- Adopt a better and heart-healthy diet
- Learn how to prepare quality meals
- Better quality of life
How Effective is Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation?
Intensive Cardiac Rehab has been scientifically proven to be very effective in healing people recovering from heart surgery and other heart treatments. It is also effective in reversing high blood pressure and other heart problems. It reduces the risk of heart attack and heart failure and makes many heart patients less dependent on medication. Research also shows that Intensive Cardiac Rehab can reduce the mortality rate among people who had heart surgery and lower cholesterol levels in participants.
It can also help beyond heart conditions. Studies show that participating in Intensive Cardiac Rehab can lower the risk for diabetes, obesity, and certain cancers. It can also decrease the level of blood sugar significantly, hence helping diabetes patients to heal fast.
We Can Help You
Dealing with heart-related problems is not easy. It becomes more difficult if you need to change your lifestyle as well. However, with the help of professionals, you can heal fast and cope well. If you need medical assistance to manage your heart problem effectively, we will be glad to provide one.
We have a team of well-experienced medical professionals who work together to ensure a better quality of life for all our patients. Therefore, don’t hesitate to contact us today, and we will be there for you.
Conclusion
Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation is designed for people who suffer heart problems. Doctors usually advised heart patients to go for cardiac rehab after being treated for heart problems. The program consists of medical evaluation of the patient, physical exercises, training and counseling on making healthy habits, living a healthy life, including support to help participants heal fast.
Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation can be done as an inpatient or outpatient program. But it consists of sections lasting for several hours. It has been proven to effectively reduce the side effects of heart treatments, reversing some other heart conditions, preventing future heart problems, and improving the general quality of life of heart patients.
