Cardio rehab

Hello I am new my name is Patsy and I have cardiomypathy with LBBB and low EF. Due to the low EF of 25 after 3 months of wearing a zoll life vest I now have a CRT-D . I had my surgery on feburary 17 2015 all went well. I am now in cardio rehab doing well. On Monday the worker put on a machine that you sit and lift these bars that have weights and you pull the bar up so your arms are straight up well I think this is to soon to be doing beings that my arms are over my head with 40 pounds weight and the Dr agrees. I didn't hurt but I thought maybe pull out leads. Well now here is my problem I need to do something else with my arms in cardio and between me and the worker we are not sure. I now do 20 minutes 1 mile on treadmill at 3.0 then I do the arm bike 5 minutes forward and 5 minutes backwards the on to the stationary bike for 15 minutes 2 miles at level 4 last on to the machine that you push with your legs out then in with weights so I need to add something for my arms with weights. Sorry I don't remember the names of these machines I am so new at this. I f any of know please if you could share that would be great thanks in advance . I like to at I love this pacemaker club.

4 Comments

Grateful Heart

by Patsy2728 - 2015-04-29 09:04:23

Thank you and yes will stick with what my Doctor has said. Thanks for ideas will give that a try. I love cardio Rehab so much so I will become a member after. Also thanks for the warm welcome .

Cardiac Rehab

by Grateful Heart - 2015-04-29 09:04:44


I would follow your Doctors orders. I would give it a few more weeks. There is plenty of time to lift 40 lbs. over your head. You could do the arm bike for a longer period of time or use dumbbells but keep them below shoulder level.

Others may not agree but I would err on the side of caution and Doctors orders....there's no rush.

Welcome to the club. It sounds like you are doing great. Cardiac Rehab is a wonderful program. I'm glad to hear you are doing it.

Grateful Heart

While you probably didn't

by Theknotguy - 2015-04-29 10:04:06

While you probably didn't pull the leads, you can pull on the scar tissue and that really hurts.

It took me seven months before I felt up to lifting any weights. Then it took me another three months before I felt somewhat "normal". During that three months I had to take frequent rests while all the sore spots healed.

I did do some physical rehab during that time, but I approached it cautiously. If it started to hurt, I'd stop immediately. If it was just normal stretching - and only you can tell that - I'd go ahead and complete the exercise. My rehab therapists told me that if I got sore, they weren't doing their job. I'd leave the sessions tired, but not sore. Slept good on those nights.

Once again, only you can tell when you're being pushed too hard. Apparently your physical therapist person hasn't been through a lot of pain and has had to do rehab during recovery. I'd switch out therapists if at all possible.

During my rehab I ended up with about six different therapists but all had the same mantra. If you hurt because of the therapy, we aren't doing our job correctly.

The therapy can really help. I got a lot of good from the therapy but I still had a lot of other recovery to go.

Hope you can get a good therapist soon.

Exercise Bungees

by Janenotarzan - 2015-04-29 10:04:20

Hi Patsy!
I, too, loved Cardiac Rehab!

I went through 8 weeks of it 2 years ago. During sessions, we all used the treadmill, an arm cycling machine, and were led in group exercises with hand-held weights then bungees. There was also the leg machine you described, but as an avid walker I didn't need that in my regimen.

Exercise bungees are amazing! Since they come in different resistances/strengths and can be altered by body position and handle adjustments, they can be fine-tuned to capabilities even more closely than machines. Far less likelyhood of "overdoing it."

At my rehab classes, vitals were taken before, during, and after activities and a Holter was worn throughout. The staff worked w/ the EP to alter regimens as needed.

Perhaps you could research the bungees and/or ask your medical support team about using them.

They are quite inexpensive, so I purchased a set to continue using at home after rehab, and others sets as much-appreciated gifts.

Best wishes to you for a fun journey to optimum health!
~Janenotarzan

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