Cardiac Physiotherapy

Undergoing cardiac surgery can be a stressful and anxious experience for everyone. But recovering from one is an equal effort intensive goal. This is where the field of Cardiac Physiotherapy enters the picture and changes the game to a great extent. This is a part of the overall Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs being conducted by almost all hospitals.

The Cardiac Rehabilitation Program is a multidisciplinary effort involving many health care professionals like Cardiologists, Nurses, Dietitians, Cardiac Physiotherapists, Pharmacists, psychologists, etc. Each member is trained in their field and contribute to the overall improvement of the patient.

Cardiac Rehabilitation programs are broken down into 4 stages

Phase 1: Immediately Post Operation

This is the first and the most intensive phase of the CR program with an emphasis on physiotherapy for cardiac patients, starting from the ICU. The physiotherapist works closely with your doctor and other staff to prepare a plan for you that includes:

• Assessment of your health condition
• Identifying a goal for you to achieve
• Work with you on safe exercises to improve your mobility
• Help you move with any precautions as prescribed by your doctor
• Identify any risk factors that may lead to any further cardiac issues

Phase 2: Follow Up Routine

This is the next phase that starts when you get discharged from the hospital and return home. You will still be monitored by the team and expected to make frequent follow-up visits to the hospital. This also marks the second phase of your physiotherapy, since you can move a little more now.

An additional part of this phase is the inclusion of exercise to be done by oneself and training on how to monitor your health during exercises.

Phase 3: Transition

This is the phase where your visit to the hospital is minimized and you are encouraged to create an exercise routine, monitor your results and effects of exercise on your heart rate. By this phase, most of the other CR team members’ involvement may reduce significantly, but your cardiac physiotherapist will be actively involved with you, monitoring your progress. Physiotherapy for heart patients includes developing plans to improve their motor skills, stamina, and flexibility. This is what your physiotherapist helps you achieve.

Phase 4: Independent Monitoring

The last phase involves taking advantage of all the knowledge you have acquired in the previous 3 phases. Here you are expected to independently lead your daily life and take care of your health by following the guidelines of the previous phases. You can always contact your Cardiac Rehabilitation team for any help, however, this phase is focused towards helping you lead a normal life on your own.

Whenever we hear of the word “Heart Disease”, the only two words we think of are Heart Attack or Heart Failure. But, there is much more to heart diseases than these two. Multiple types of heart diseases can occur to a person. To understand the different types of treatments being prescribed by doctors or even to understand why is there a different type of physiotherapy for heart patients, we need to understand the different types of heart diseases. Some of the common types of heart ailments are:

1. Congenital Heart Ailments – These are what are commonly termed as “birth defects”, i.e. they are present right from the time a child is born. Some common types of congenital heart defects are septal defects and obstruction defects.

2. Arrhythmia – Although the name is not so common, this is the type of problem occurring most commonly. In the simplest terms, when the heart does not beat in a normal rhythm and instead beats either faster or slower, it is called arrhythmia.

3. Coronary Artery Diseases – The coronary arteries are vital parts of our body functioning as they provide oxygen and other nutrients to the heart. When these arteries become affected in any way (either diseased, damaged or blocked), the result can be quite disastrous.

As the medical field keeps discovering more and more types of diseases that can inflict the human heart, at the same rate treatments are being tried and perfected for each of these diseases. Some of the common treatments being given to cardiac patients are:

• Medications
• Angiography
• Angioplasty
• Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery
• Carotid Endarterectomy
• Pacemaker installation

When it is the question of heart diseases, everyone prefers medical treatment and the frequently asked question is whether physiotherapy for cardiac patients is effective? To get an answer to this, what needs to be understood is that physiotherapy is not a replacement of medical treatment.

Instead, it is a supplement to the medicines, to help the affected patient regain their strength, stamina, and flexibility. Medical procedure can only try to fix the problem, whereas cardiac physiotherapy aims to help you maintain the new found health. Below listed are some of the most common benefits observed for the physiotherapy programs:

• Strength building in the body and muscles after a surgery
• Developing healthier habits including lifestyle changes, so that the effects of the surgery are long lasting
• Stress Management leading to a happier and healthier life
• Work with you to reduce the onset of depression post the surgery
• Improving health rate and reducing the risk of further problems

So what types of exercises form part of the physiotherapy for cardiac patients? There are a variety of exercises the physiotherapists prescribe and practice. These depend on several factors including the status of the patient, their age, their stamina, their flexibility and the presence of other chronic ailments. Some of the standard exercises forming a part of cardiac physiotherapy are:

• Deep Breathing Exercises with carried number of breaths for different patients or patients at different stages of recovery
• Incentive Spirometry
• Providing coughing support to the patients including physical support, support of a pillow and sternal support like Heart Hugger
• Guidance of sternal precautions for patients having undergone open heart surgeries

We at Care24 completely understand the anxiety and stress associated with cardiac surgery. We all want the best for our loved ones and want them to recover quickly from any ailments. It is with this thought, we train our specially selected physiotherapists.

Our experienced team understands the importance of physiotherapy for heart patients extremely well and hence are there for them, every step of the way. While surgery is the biggest stage, recovering after a surgery and getting back to normal life is even more difficult. You need to keep morale high and for someone recovering from such a major surgery, it is no mean feat.

Our team is trained to handle such situations, giving you the comfort that your loved ones are in safe hands. We will ensure that they are motivated and keep moving towards their goal of leading a healthy and happy life. Our dedicated team of cardiac physiotherapists take great pride in ensuring their patients can lead independent and fulfilling lives.