What does cardiac rehab involve?

Cardiac rehabilitation doesn’t change your past, but it can help you improve your heart’s future.

Cardiac rehab is a medically supervised program designed to improve your cardiovascular health if you have experienced heart attack, heart failure, angioplasty or heart surgery. Cardiac rehab has three equally important parts:

Exercise counseling and training: Exercise gets your heart pumping and your entire cardiovascular system working. You’ll learn how to get your body moving in ways that promote heart health.

Education for heart-healthy living: A key element of cardiac rehab is educating yourself: How can you manage your risk factors? Quit smoking? Make heart-healthy nutrition choices?

Counseling to reduce stress: Stress hurts your heart. This part of cardiac rehab helps you identify and tackle everyday sources of stress.

Cardiac rehab is a team effort

You don’t need to face heart disease alone. Cardiac rehab is a team effort.

You’ll partner with doctors, nurses, pharmacists – plus family and friends – to take charge of the choices, lifestyle and habits that affect your heart.

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There is a strong consensus among post-rehabilitation fitness experts that the most important element in any fitness regimen is that it be carefully directed and personalized. For post-rehabilitation fitness to be effective, it must be responsible, according to Dr. James

 

After reaching therapeutic goals and graduating from physical therapy treatment, many patients want and need continued guidance and the safety that ensures. Reflexology and Polarity Therapy Plus, a therapeutic center for individuals of all ages and fitness levels, specializes in post-rehabilitation training for individuals recovering from injury, back pain or illness, and those suffering from neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. The center works closely with physicians to ensure each patient progresses in a way that does not ever compromise health or safety.

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The Reflexology and Polarity Therapy Plus Center provides personalized post-rehab care to individuals of all age groups and activity levels, including those with neurological conditions that impact their balance and mobility. The staff is dedicated to meeting the individual needs of every person who desires a safe and quick return to an active lifestyle.

 

One of the areas that set the center apart is its ability to conduct assessment screenings. These include a movement screen to determine unilateral strength, as well as flexibility screening, VO2 testing and other screens. The staff also tests strength unilaterally instead of both legs at one time.

 

“Physicians often tell us where a weakness might be but do not generally know the prescription to improve the deficit. That is our job, prescribing exercise respective of the demonstrated weakness,” Dr. James explains.

 

Supporting the Medical Community

 

Obesity has been identified as a disease, and this will impact insurance, as there will have to be a plan to ‘treat’ the disease,” Dr. James notes. “Secondly, Obamacare seeks to expand preventative services, and we most certainly fall in that arena.”

 

The medical home model will be another area that post-rehabilitative fitness businesses will fall under.

 

“If the intent is to keep people in their homes, once physical therapy has discharged, we may get the call to continue the exercise regimen in the homes,” she adds. “We are preparing for this opportunity as well.”

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