Cardiac Rehabilitation

Cardiac rehabilitation is a structured, medically supervised programme designed to support recovery after a heart condition or procedure, while helping individuals regain strength, improve heart health, and reduce the risk of future cardiac events.

It is commonly recommended for patients recovering from heart attacks, heart surgery, angioplasty, or those living with chronic heart conditions such as heart failure.

What does Cardiac Rehabilitation Involve?

Cardiac rehabilitation is usually delivered by a multidisciplinary team, including cardiologists, nurses, physiotherapists, and dietitians, ensuring a personalised and holistic approach.
Cardiac rehabilitation consists of three main components:

Supervised Exercise Sessions

Physical therapy is a crucial aspect of cardiac rehabilitation. It serves to help strengthen both your heart and body through supervised exercises. Your healthcare specialist will recommend workouts that are suitable for you, these tend to be gentle, low-intensity exercises to assist you in getting your energy and strength back.

Counselling

Cardiac rehabilitation also takes into account your emotional needs. You and your family will be given advice in how to cope with lifestyle changes, treatment fees to help you on your journey to recovery.

Patient Education

Your healthcare provider, dietician and nurse will give you insights on your condition, follow-up treatments and risk factor modifications to empower you to care for yourself.

What are the Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation?

• Improved Cardiovascular Health & Quality of Life in Patients
  With a stronger heart and healthier body, your quality of life will improve when it is no longer challenging to complete daily activities such as chores around the house or climbing up stairs.
   
• Reduce Chance of Recurrence
  Taking proactive steps to improve your heart health has been shown to reduce the chances of a recurrence by 47%. Patients who participated in cardiac rehab were also 42% less likely to die within an average of eight years.
   
• Reduce Risk Factrors of Cardiovascular Disease
  Through cardiac rehabilitation, you will be introduced to healthier lifestyle habits such as eating more heart-healthy food and exercising more, which in turn lowers your risk factors of cardiovascular disease such as high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.
   

Do I Need To Go for Cardiac Rehabilitation?

Your heart works tirelessly, but ageing can increase the risk of heart disease and impact quality of life. The good news: cardiac rehabilitation can help delay, reduce, or even reverse these risks. Dr. William Kristanto dives into the ins and outs of cardiac rehabilitation.

Read the story
 

Understanding Heart Health: Your Guide to Diagnosis, Treatment, and Support

The heart is one of the most important organs in the human body. Located in the chest on the left, the heart pumps blood throughout the body via the circulatory system, supplying oxygen and nutrients.

A healthy heart is essential to good health. In fact, a healthy human heart beats about 100,000 times a day, with an average adult’s heart beating about 60 to 80 times per minute.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is a term that houses all conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels.

Empowering Yourself with Knowledge

This resource provides information about heart health, including:

• Importance of Heart Health: Understand the importance of maintaining your heart health.
• Common Heart Disease: Learn about the different types of common heart diseases and their characteristics.
• Key Risk Factors: Explore various modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors that may leave you susceptible to heart disease.
• Ways to Improve Heart Health: Learn about lifestyle factors and preventive measures to minimize your risk of heart disease.

What is Heart Health?

Heart health is the overall well-being of your cardiovascular system, which consists of your heart and blood vessels. It encompasses the prevention, diagnosis, and management of conditions that affect the heart and circulatory system, collectively known as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). A healthy heart functions to efficiently pump blood throughout your body, delivering oxygen and nutrients to your organs and tissues. It is important to maintain good heart health for your overall well-being and longevity.

Importance of Heart Health

• CVDs are a leading cause of death globally, making heart health crucial for overall health.
• Poor heart health can lead to various cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), including heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and arrhythmias.

What Causes Heart Disease?

Heart disease is caused by a complex interplay of factors, including:

• Non-Modifiable Factors: Age, gender, ethnicity, family history, and inherited genetic mutations.
• Modifiable Factors:
  • Lifestyle: Diet, physical inactivity, smoking, and alcohol consumption.
  • Health: Pre-existing conditions (i.e., diabetes), obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol

Symptoms of Heart

Disease Heart disease symptoms vary depending on the type of heart disease. However, some general signs and symptoms include:

• Chest pains
• Shortness of breath
• Heart palpitations
• Fatigue
• Nausea or vomiting
• Dizziness or light-headedness

Important Note: These symptoms may also be indicative of other health conditions. Speak to our Specialists today for a proper evaluation and diagnosis.

Common Heart Diseases in Singapore

• Coronary Artery Disease is the most common heart disease and happens due to blockages in your coronary arteries.
• Heart Arrhythmias are irregular heartbeats, which can be too fast (tachycardia), too slow (bradycardia), or irregular.
• Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, can lead to serious complications like heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease.
• Congenital Heart Disease are heart defects present at birth due to abnormal heart development during pregnancy.
• Heart Failure occurs when the heart muscle is weakened or damaged and can't pump blood effectively to meet the body's needs.

Improving Heart Health

Here are some helpful ways to improve your heart health: