Exercise therapy for chronic heart failure
Goto, Y.
Nihon Rinsho. Japanese Journal of Clinical Medicine 61(5): 851-856
2003
ISSN/ISBN: 0047-1852 PMID: 12755014 Document Number: 562300
Increased mortality and impaired exercise tolerance is the two major clinical problems in patients with chronic heart failure(CHF). In addition, for many years, bed rest has been recommended for patients with CHF. However, in the last decade, exercise training has been shown to improve exercise capacity, quality of life, and event-free survival in patients with CHF. Furthermore, exercise training improves autonomic nerve function and vascular endothelial function in these patients. Based on these lines of evidence, clinical practice guidelines of exercise therapy for CHF have recently been published. More effort should be made to establish the optimal exercise prescription and to increase the implementation of exercise training as a non-pharmacologic therapy for CHF.