Heart failure, also known as congestive heart failure, is a condition in which your heart cannot pump enough blood to meet your body's needs. Coronary heart disease, which is the narrowing of the arteries, and high blood pressure are a few of the conditions that may leave your heart too weak or stiff to properly pump blood. Heart failure is a serious problem that requires serious medical intervention.
Home-Based Exercise
A home-based exercise program is a structured physical exercise routine designed to improve your medical condition or overall physical fitness without the need for constant supervision or the presence of a trainer. The program usually includes aerobic exercise and may or may not include resistance exercise. Though it is done from home, you should first consult your doctor or trainer for advice on how to devise an exercise program, especially if you have a heart condition.
Effects
Heart disease is a serious, life-threatening condition that may require medication -- for example, diuretics and beta blockers -- or surgery such as coronary bypass or a heart transplant Exercise is not a cure or a treatment. However, it can help to relieve signs and symptoms of heart failure and keep the disease from worsening further. Exercise reduces the overall demands placed on the heart by improving the health and conditioning of the rest of your body.
Study
According to a 2008 study published in "The Australian Journal of Physiotherapy" by researchers from the National Taiwan University, home-based exercise safely increased exercise capacity in patients who have had chronic heart failure for at least three months, but did not appear to change quality of life or the incidence of hospitalization. Its effect as a treatment may, therefore, be limited. The researchers recommended home-based programs as an alternative method for improving the management of people with heart failure who do not have access to hospital-based programs.
Considerations
Though exercise may not ameliorate the condition of heart failure, several studies, including a 1999 study conducted by "The New England Journal of Medicine," have indicated that heart rate immediately after exercise is a predictor of overall mortality. In other words, a delayed decrease of the heart rate in the first minute following exercise tended to indicate serious problems with the heart. This is especially true in people with heart failure.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Heart Failure
- "The Australian Journal of Physiotherapy"; Home-Based Exercise Increases Exercise Capacity but not Quality of Life in People with Chronic Heart Failure: A Systematic Review; CL Chien, et al.; 2008
- "The New England Journal of Medicine"; Heart-Rate Recovery Immediately after Exercise as a Predictor of Mortality; Christopher R. Cole, et al.; October 1999
