Heart Attack and Acute Coronary Syndrome - Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation

Physical Rehabilitation

Physical rehabilitation is extremely important after a heart attack. Patients with recent episodes of acute coronary syndrome also generally need some sort of supervised exercise training. Rehabilitation may include:

• Leg exercises may start as early as the first day. The patient usually sits in a chair on the second day, and begins to walk on the second or third day.
• Most patients undergo low-level exercise tolerance tests early in their recovery.
• After 8 - 12 weeks, many patients, even those with heart failure, benefit from supervised exercise programs. Health care providers should give the patient schedules for low-level aerobic home-activity. Strength (resistance) training is also important. In general, the risk for serious heart events during rehabilitation is very low.

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Patients generally return to work in about 1 - 2 months, although timing can vary depending on the severity of the condition.

Sexual activity after a heart attack has a very low risk and is generally considered safe, particularly for people who exercised regularly before the attack. The feelings of intimacy and love that accompany healthy sex can help offset depression.

Emotional Rehabilitation

Major depression occurs in many patients who have ACS or who have had heart attacks. Studies suggest that depression is a major predictor for increased mortality in both women and men. (One reason may be that depressed patients are less likely to comply with their heart medications.)

Psychotherapeutic techniques, especially cognitive behavioral therapies, may be very helpful. For some patients, certain types of antidepressant drugs may be appropriate.

Review Date: 05/05/2011
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).