This document contains generalized guidelines for Jean, who is suffering from cardiovascular disease. Prescriptions for individualized exercise programs are recommended for patients. Since persons have a variety of heart conditions, those suffering from heart disease need to complete their medical treatment before they start their exercise programs, which may entail their health histories, physical examinations, and monitored stress tests. The information obtained from the patient is applicable in testing of the developed exercise programs would be safe, and to create exercise prescriptions.
Description of Jean and Her Condition
The World Health Organization, WHO, estimates that 17.9 million persons die from cardiovascular diseases annually, and that this figure represents 31% of the global deaths (WHO, 2018). Concerning the pathophysiology of the condition, studies identify atherosclerosis as the primary cause of the disease. Cigarette smoking, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia are further described in literature as the common risk factors for atherosclerosis. The identified risk factors unite with a convergence of mechanisms, involving inflammation and oxidation in the walls of the arteries, which gradually results to characteristic fibrous-fatty lesions (Scott, 2014). Inflammation and physical trauma leads to the rapture of the lesion that may result in other clinical events, such as stroke, heart attack, or plague growth. The progression of the condition is marked by inflammatory indicator, C-reactive protein.
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The CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicates that the common treatment for Jean’s condition includes lifestyle changes, medication—mostly antibiotics though the medications would vary according to his symptoms—and surgery, especially when the medications prescribed are not sufficient. If the patient contemplates surgery, the common procedures that would be followed include angioplasty, angioplasty, laser, artificial heart valve surgery, atherectomy, bypass surgery, and cardiomyoplasty among others. Jean is currently on medication, which are welchol, singulair, calcium blockers, multivitamin, and albuterol. Welchol is classified as a cholesterol lowering medication while singulair is a leukotriene receptor antagonist that prevents the inflammation of blood arteries. Furthermore calcium blockers are classified as a calcium channel blocker and it prevents the accumulation of calcium in bone tissues that could increase the risk for heart disease for the patient (CDC, 2018). Multivitamin medications are classified as diuretics that help the body to ease pressure on the heart through accelerating the elimination of excess water and sodium ions. Lastly, albuterol is classified as a bronchodilator that eases the flow of air through the air channels easing breathing for the patient.
The medications have an effect on the prescribed exercise for the patient since they indicate that the exercise should not reduce the effectiveness of breathing for the patient while allowing her body to get rid of excess calcium, water, and sodium. Consequently, the goal of the exercise would be to promote proper breathing and circulation that would enable Jean to carry out her normal chores and resume her skiing during summer. The only barrier that might reduce the ability of the patient to attain the desired outcome, however, is the high blood pressure may affect her breathing, which would limit the intensity of the training. Therefore, it would be necessary to monitor the patient’s heart rate and blood pressure during the exercise.
The diagnosis given about the patient indicates several risk factors for her condition. First, Jean has a history of smoking, which could be affecting her breathing. It is also indicated in the information that the client has physical inactivity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol levels.
Prescription of the Exercise
In the development of the exercise prescription, four components are useful, and they collectively identified as the FITT principle
F |
I |
T |
T |
Frequency | Intensity | Time | Type |
The Frequency
Jean should exercise for 30-60 minutes each day and she should do so between three to five days each week.
The Intensity
The patient should also exercise moderately using activities, such as free weights, nautilus machines, scrubbing floors bicycling between 5 and 9 mph on level terrains or on surfaces with few hills, and playing tennis doubles. She may also engage in activities, such as mowing the lawn using power motor recreational swimming carrying or pulling clubs used in golfing and brisk walking, between 3 and 4.5 mph. Two ways may be used to set the exercise intensity for the patient, beginning with the lower end of the range and increasing gradually. Precisely, the intensity of the exercise could be set using a proportion of the maximal heart rate of the patient (between fifty and eighty percent) or between forty and sixty percent of their heart rate reserve (Coronary Heart Disease and exercise, 2014). A second way of doing so would be to use the rating of perceived exertion, which is between ten and fourteen on a six-twenty point Borg’s scale (Coronary Heart Disease and exercise, 2014).
Time
While using this training program, it is important for Jean to understand that the cool down periods should last between five and ten minutes, and they should be an infusion of flexibility and stretching exercises (Kokkinos, 2010). The periods should then be succeeded by thirty to sixty-minute cardiovascular or aerobic exercises. The most important idea about the program is that it should adopt the slow-gradual progression-high intensity model of exercising.
Type
Aerobic or cardiovascular exercise is always a sustained continuous exercise that yields a moderate increment in the heart rate of the patient above rest. Since the patient’s strength may be compromised, it is important to carry out resistance training alongside the aerobic ones to better her energy levels that would important for the management of her daily chores, such as cleaning the house. It is important to avoid isometric training because of its likelihood of increasing pressure to the heart training. In conducting the resistance training, it would be important to begin at minimum intensity of between thirty and fifty percent of one-repetition maximum and the weight that is carried should not go beyond that that could be lifted between twelve and fifteen repetitions applying the right technique ( Coronary Heart Disease and exercise, 2014 ). The training should be carried out between two and three days a week and they should entail a single set of eight to ten exercises that target all the major muscle groups. However, the number of sets should increase up to three when Jean progresses and the intensity may be raised up to between sixty and seventy one-repetition maximum.
Cardiac Rehabilitation
Programs employed in cardiac rehabilitation offer supervised group and individual exercise for persons with heart disease. The patients stand to gain through longer lives and experiencing fewer complications from their condition. Consequently, it would be important for a cardiac rehabilitation program to be adopted alongside the training program described in this document. The outcomes that the patients may experience while using this program may vary from patient to patient depending on several factors, such as the severity of their condition among others.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2018) Coronary Artery Disease: Causes, Diagnosis & Prevention . Cdc.gov . Retrieved 10 December 2018, from https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/coronary_ad.htm
Coronary Heart Disease and exercise . (2014). exerciseismedicine.com.au . Retrieved 17 December 2018, from http://exerciseismedicine.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/2014-CHD-FULL.pdf
Kokkinos, P. (2010). Physical activity and cardiovascular disease prevention . Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Scott, J. (2014). Pathophysiology and biochemistry of cardiovascular disease. Current opinion in genetics & development , 14 (3), 271-279.
World Health Organization (WHO) (2018). Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) . World Health Organization . Retrieved 17 December 2018, from https://www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/en/