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What is a Cardiac Heart Failure Program?

senior lady holds up her hands over her heart

Give your heart some love with our cardiac rehab program.

A healthy human heart beats 100,000 times a day, pumping more than 14,000 pints of blood to every living cell in the body. When your heart doesn’t pump enough blood for your body’s needs, heart failure develops. This can happen if your heart can’t fill up with enough blood. It can also happen when your heart is too weak to pump properly.Most often, heart failure is caused by another medical condition that damages your heart, including coronary heart disease, heart inflammation, high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy, or an irregular heartbeat.Heart failure may not cause symptoms right away, but eventually you may feel tired and short of breath. Fluid may also build up in your feet, ankles and legs, or around your stomach or neck.While there’s no cure for heart failure, healthy lifestyle changes, medicines such as diuretics and ACE inhibitors, or a heart procedure can help many people enjoy a higher quality of life.

How cardiac rehabilitation for heart failure can help.

Your doctor may recommend lifestyle changes as part of a cardiac rehabilitation program if you’ve experienced heart failure. At Freedom Village of Bradenton, we specialize in cardiac rehabilitation for heart failure. We’ll work with your medical team to create a plan that’s safe and easy to follow. The main areas of treatment include:Exercise — Your plan will likely include aerobic exercises like walking or cycling, and strengthening exercises like light weightlifting.Lifestyle changes — Limiting salt intake, quitting smoking, limiting or stopping your alcohol intake, aiming for a healthy weight, getting enough sleep, and learning how to manage stress can improve your heart failure symptoms.Support — Depression and anxiety are common for people with heart disease. Emotional and psychological support is an important part of your treatment. We can help you learn ways to cope.

Is there a difference between cardiac rehabilitation and rehabilitation for heart failure?

Cardiac rehabilitation is for people with various types of heart disease. They may have had a heart attack, heart valve replacement, angioplasty, coronary bypass surgery, or coronary heart disease. The goal of cardiac rehabilitation is to improve strength, prevent the condition from worsening, and improve health and quality of life.Cardiac rehabilitation for heart failure is designed specifically for people with heart failure. If your heart failure is relatively mild, lifestyle changes may be all you need to feel better. But if your doctor thinks you’d benefit from cardiac rehab for moderate to serious heart failure, the rehabilitation specialists at Freedom Village of Bradenton can help.Learn more about senior rehabilitation services in Bradenton, Florida, at Freedom Village of Bradenton. Call 941-219-5294 or use the Contact form, and a member of our team will be in touch as soon as possible.