Answers for heart patientsతెలుగులో చదవండి
What happens in a cardiac rehab programme?
Cardiac rehab is exercise and advice for heart patients, under physician supervision. At Cardiac Rehab, it is a 6-month programme: 100 hours of intervention. Each session is 90 minutes, 3 times a week. It starts with a check by the doctor.
Times and heart monitoring: the Cardiac Rehab programme. The three parts of rehab, below: AHA.
Who it is for
Cardiac rehab is for people after a heart attack, a stent (angioplasty) or bypass surgery. It is also for people with heart failure, a pacemaker or an ICD.
The NHS in the UK says everyone with heart failure should be offered cardiac rehab.
The three parts of cardiac rehab
The American Heart Association (AHA) says cardiac rehab has three parts:
- Exercise, planned for you and watched over.
- Learning good habits for the heart, like healthy food and quitting smoking.
- Help with stress and worry.
Your first visit
A doctor checks you first. Then you get an exercise plan made for you. It fits your heart and your fitness today.
What a session looks like
Each session is 90 minutes, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You walk or jog, and do other exercise, while the team watches your heart trace. The trace comes from a 12-lead ECG and a single-lead chest monitor.
Heart experts say a slow warm-up before exercise, and a slow cool-down after, matter even more for heart patients.
How hard is the exercise?
The team checks how hard you are working from how you breathe and talk. It is fine to be a bit out of breath. You should still be able to talk.
Watch for warning signs: a tight chest, feeling dizzy, a racing heart, or being very short of breath. If you get them, stop and tell the team.
Why 6 months?
The body gets stronger slowly, over weeks and months. In studies of people with heart failure, programmes of 6 months or more gave bigger gains in heart pumping (EF) than shorter ones.
“I have never been to a gym”
That is fine. UK rehab experts say many people who have not exercised for years find they enjoy cardiac rehab. Being in a group also helps. You meet people who have been through the same thing.
What happens at Cardiac Rehab
- A doctor checks you first.
- You get an exercise plan made for you.
- You exercise for 90 minutes, 3 times a week, for 6 months, under physician supervision.
- Step by step, the exercise gets harder as you get stronger.
Why it helps with this
At Cardiac Rehab, the team watches your heart trace at every session. So you can push a little further each week, safely.
A 2026 review of 107 studies looked at people after a heart attack, a stent or bypass. Those who did cardiac rehab had 28% fewer heart attacks. They had 35% fewer hospital stays.
Heart guidelines in the US (AHA and ACC) and in Europe (ESC) give cardiac rehab their highest grade: Class I, Level A.
Cardiac Rehab, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad runs these sessions.
Frequently asked questions
How long is a cardiac rehab programme?
At Cardiac Rehab, a 6-month programme: 100 hours of intervention. Each session is 90 minutes, 3 times a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
How soon can I start after a stent or bypass?
Dr Muralidar’s advice: supervised exercise can start as early as 1 week after a stent. After bypass, after about 20 days at home.
Is cardiac rehab only exercise?
No. AHA says it has three parts: exercise, learning good habits for the heart, and help with stress.
Do heart guidelines recommend it?
Yes. US (AHA and ACC) and European (ESC) guidelines give cardiac rehab their highest grade, Class I, Level A.
This page is general advice. Your own doctor knows your heart. If your doctor has told you something different, follow your doctor.
Written by Dr. Muralidar Babi, MBBS, MD (CMC Vellore), Cardiac Rehab Physician. TGMCI Reg. No. 59309.