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Resistance exercise in cardiac rehabilitation-recommendations of the German Federation for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation
While aerobic endurance training has been a substantial part of international recommendations for cardiac rehabilitation during the last 30 years, there is still a rather reserved attitude of the medical community to resistance exercise in this field. Careful recommendations for resistance exercise...
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| Published in: | Zeitschrift für Kardiologie 2004-05, Vol.93 (5), p.357-370 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | While aerobic endurance training has been a substantial part of international recommendations for cardiac rehabilitation during the last 30 years, there is still a rather reserved attitude of the medical community to resistance exercise in this field. Careful recommendations for resistance exercise in cardiac patients was only published a few years ago. It has been taken for granted that strength exercise elicits a substantial increase in blood pressure and thus imposes, especially in cardiac patients, a risk of potentially fatal cardiovascular complications. Results of the latest studies show that the existing recommended overcaution is not justified. Strength exercise can indeed result in extreme increases of blood pressure, but this is not the case for all loads of this kind. The actual blood pressure response to strength exercise depends on the isometric component, the exercise intensity (load or resistance used), muscle mass activated, the number of repetitions in the set and/or the duration of the contraction as well as involvement of Valsalva maneuver. Intra arterially performed blood pressure measurements during resistance exercise in patients with heart disease showed that strength training carried out at low intensities (40-60% of MVC) and with high numbers of repetitions (15-20) only evokes a moderate increase of blood pressure comparable with blood pressure measures induced by moderate endurance training. If used properly and performed accurately, individually dosed, medically supervised and controlled through experienced sport therapists, a dynamic resistance exercise is-at least for a certain group of patients-not associated with higher risks than an aerobic endurance training and can in addition to endurance training improve muscle force and endurance, have a positive influence on cardiovascular function, metabolism, cardiovascular risk factors as well as psychosocial well-being and overall quality of life. However, with respect to currently available data, resistance exercise cannot be generally recommended for all groups of patients. The appropriate kind and execution of training is highly dependent on current clinical status, cardiac capacity as well as possible accompanying diseases of the patient. Most of the studies carried out up to date included small samples of middle-aged male patients with almost normal levels of aerobic endurance performance and good left ventricular function. Data is missing for riskgroups, older patients and wo |
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| ISSN: | 0300-5860 1435-1285 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00392-004-0063-7 |