Often times cardiac patient’s have a difficult time understanding how physical and/or occupational therapy will be of benefit to them, but it has been our experience that they have the potential to achieve a significant improvement in functional ability. With education and a graded therapy program, the compromised cardiac patient can enjoy benefits of improved functional efficiency due to increased muscle strength and from an activity modification program. The activity modification program (AMP) aims at catering to the patient’s impairments (decreased EF, poor BP control, SOB associated with fluid retention, etc) by breaking up functional activities into very manageable tasks that follow a natural progression of daily chores.
Patient’s who have recently undergone a CABG will also benefit from an AMP to allow them to progress towards independence at home while following sternal and lifting precautions. Often times, when a patient transitions from hospital to home, they are left to problem solve their home environment to allow them to maintain their precautions or they tend to break their precautions and increase their risk for re-hospitalization. Taking part of an in-home cardiac rehabilitation program coupled with an activity modification program the rate of re-hospitalization is drastically reduced and optimal outcomes are usually achieved.
