Cardiac Rehabilitation Program for Well Trained Individuals with Cardiovascular Disease

The general population in cardiac rehabilitation usually presents a medium fitness level. However, there are some candidates who are well trained and participate in competitive sports such as long distance runs, triathlons and ball games. For them an underlying (even clinically silent) cardiovascular (CV) disease may cause an increasing risk for sudden cardiac death or clinical deterioration in comparison with normal individuals, because of the high quality of their regular exercise training and sports participation. Therefore, our target is to recommend a safe training program and to train these patients, taking into consideration all risks and benefits. The recommendations are based on a consensus document of different expertise professionals under the European Society of Cardiology. It is also based on personal experience in our Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) program, which is an outpatient program that gives precise advice, including an exercise program, education, consulting and social support, tailored to each individual with a previous cardiac event, allowing them to gradually increase their training program to a level that lets them become involved in sport activities.