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Cardiac Rehabilitation

“With a healthy heart…the beat goes on.”

We seldom appreciate the heart’s role in everyday activities until we are sidelined by a heart condition or surgery. Then, tasks as simple as walking from one room to another can become monumental feats.

Outpatient cardiac rehabilitation can be an important and life-changing step in the journey to recovery and wellness for people with heart disease. Cardiac rehab is a medically supervised program that includes exercise training, education on heart-healthy living and lifestyle, and oftentimes counseling to help reduce stress. If you have heart failure or are recovering from a cardiac event, cardiac rehab can play a critical role in improving your quality and length of life.

To schedule an appointment with a Lower Bucks Hospital Cardiac Rehab Department, call 215-785-9442

Through the outpatient cardiac rehabilitation service at Lower Bucks Hospital in the Philadelphia suburbs, patients who have had a recent heart attack, angina attack, heart failure, open-heart surgery or angioplasty receive the specialized care they need to return to normal activities.

Benefits of Outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation

Cardiac rehabilitation improves heart function, lowers risk factors for heart complications and helps you maintain a healthy weight. Working with your cardiologist and the cardiac rehabilitation team to develop an individualized plan helps you become independent, self-assured and symptom-free. These plans may include:

  • Low-intensity aerobic exercise and strength training
  • Monitoring of blood pressure and heart rhythm during exercise
  • Education focused on nutrition, stress management, hypertension, diabetes and exercise
  • A holistic approach to care that covers the full range of patient needs, from psychosocial to physical
  • A caring staff that is on-hand to provide encouragement and emotional support, answer questions and discuss areas of concern

The program provides a medically supervised environment that allows increased physical activity through monitored exercise. Educational materials provide participants information about their disease processes, risk factor reduction and recovery.
Your personal physician, who will prescribe cardiac rehab and refer you to our program, will remain your primary doctor and will receive progress reports. Tell your physician you want to participate in the program. Or, we can fax the necessary paperwork to your physician.
Team members supporting you during your rehab experience include physicians, and registered nurses.

Who Qualifies for Cardiac Rehabilitation?

Medicare and most private insurers cover cardiac rehab if you have one or more of the following qualifications. Our staff can contact your insurance carrier to check whether you qualify.

  • Heart attack
  • Stable angina
  • Coronary intervention (balloon/PTCA/stent)
  • Heart valve repair or replacement
  • Heart bypass surgery
  • Congestive heart failure
  • Heart transplant

Cardiac Rehab Exercise

Cardiac rehab will help you attain the exercise level needed for cardiovascular fitness so you return to a healthy, normal lifestyle. Optimum cardiovascular conditioning can be reached through these aerobic exercises.

  • Walking on a treadmill
  • Using a recumbent bicycle, stationary bicycle or airdyne
  • Using a Stairmaster or elliptical machine
  • Upper body exercise and/or strengthening as appropriate

Our staff will perform an initial, low level exercise evaluation. An exercise plan is then designed for you. General conditioning and strengthening exercises are added, as appropriate.

Education

Materials are offered on the following topics.

  • Nutrition
  • Cholesterol and lipids
  • Eating out/recipe modifications
  • Weight control
  • Exercise
  • Coronary artery disease and heart function
  • Cardiac medications
  • Stress, depression and coping with heart disease

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