Basics of Cardiac Rehabilitation

According to the World Health Organization definition, cardiac rehabilitation is “the sum of activities required to influence, favorably, the underlying cause of the disease, as well as to provide the best possible physical, mental, and social conditions, so that patients may, by their own efforts, preserve or resume optimal functioning in their community and through improved health behavior, slow or reverse the progression of a disease”. The objectives of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation are to increase functional capacity level, reduce anginal symptoms and disability, improve quality of life, modify coronary risk factors, and reduce morbidity and mortality rates.