Chest excercises and pulling out leads?

Hi all. Just joined. I got a dual chamber Medtronic pacemaker Feb. 24th. My cardiologist told me to prevent the leads from being ripped out I should never ever do push-ups, bench presses, pec flys. Basically any pectoralis (chest) excercises and some shoulder excercises. Has anyone heard of this?.Also any jerking movements with the left arm. Thanks for the advice

6 Comments

leads

by joy1 - 2009-03-15 11:03:11

Hi, welcome to the site!

As for exercising right now, listen to your doctors. For the first couple of months you really shouldn't over extend or or put too much pressure on your should/chest area. The reason for this is to give the leads time to become seated. For about the first 6 months your body is producing scar tissue around your leads, anchoring them in place. It's really important to let that process take place to ensure the leads do not pull out of your heart wall.

After six months, your body has gone along ways toward making your leads stable. You still need to be careful as you begin stretching the muscles and scar tissue to allow the scar tissue to remain secure around the leads. It's a frustrating process but it's worth giving your body a chance to heal right the first time around than to have to go through it again. Broken or pulled out leads are no fun.

Good luck,
Bonnie

Exercise

by richan - 2009-03-16 05:03:12

Hi Wrenbrandt,
I wasn't allowed to do very much during the first 6+ months either. As soon as my cardiologist told me I was good to go, it took me a while to get my range of motion back - swimming. I am doing strength training and weight lifting involving all upper body muscles - including pectorals. Like Kathryn, doing pull-ups positions my PM like it is "in the way" of my doing what I'm trying to do.
I can tell you, so far so good. I go in for my PM tuneup in May. I assume that it will be uneventful like the others.
Hang in there!
Richan

Shouldn't have problems...

by turboz24 - 2009-03-16 05:03:17

I was allowed to go back to working out 2 weeks after my implant. My doctor told me to do what I wanted to.

I think each doctor wants their patients to wait a certain amount of time, but almost everyone is released after 6 weeks.

Unless you have an underlying heart condition that would not allow you to exert yourself, the pacemaker or ICD should not restrict what you can do (movement wise).

There is the possibility of clavical pinch on the leads, but I think that's generally only an issue on poor routing of the leads themselves.

for now

by Tracey_E - 2009-03-16 05:03:39

As Joy said, right now your body is forming scar tissue. After 6-8 weeks, the leads are generally considered secured pretty well and most of us no longer have any restrictions regarding movements. I do push ups, presses, etc as do many others here. My doctor said it was ok after 6 weeks.

Pull ups

by kenslow - 2009-03-16 09:03:32

As a previous poster said I don't have any limitations on excercise either. I also do pull ups. I noticed that I could feel something pop and my cardio doc said that it was just scar tissue not to worry.

Kathryn

I think this is a temporary restriction

by shroutosaur - 2009-08-13 09:08:08

I have a 3rd degree heart block and am 100% dependant. I'm on my second pacer. Once I healed after 6 weeks, my PM doctor lifted all restrictions and now I do lots of pushups and some weight training. Once the leads are firmly implanted, you should be able to do some upper body exercise, if your Dr clears you. I come from a family with a history of implants, as apparently we have some genetic disorder leading to brachycardia. My mother and all her siblings had PMs, and I have at least 10 cousins with PMs. My uncle was a carpenter who lifted heavy timbers in place all his life. Other cousins work as firemen, construction and other heavy lifting jobs with no restrictions.

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