Can exercise cause an ablation to fail?

[kkatz]

I have probably been over cautious in returning to exercise at pre ablation level.Now 8 weeks post ablation & 4 weeks ago Arrhythmia nurse said .not to rush into exercise.I try to either walk (only around 1.5 miles most days ) & have started bowling a couple of times a week.None of this is effortless but certainly better than pre ablation.I now want to start my exercise classes a couple of times a week & gradually increase my bowling.These classes are are all part of Leeds active health programme & can be taken at my own pace but are an hour long.A bit scared of exercise in case it causes the ablation to fail.I am fairly sure I am being over cautious.What do you all think?

[mjames1]

Nurse is correct and "gradual" is the word. You don't want to ruin all the good work. The problem I have with classes, is that in most cases, it's not at your own pace, but at the teacher's pace.

Jim

[kkatz in reply to mjames1]

I used to go to the class a grade higher with persistent AF & learnt to pace myself within that class although it depend on who was taking it.One of the leaders did more aerobics with a 1 minute turn around between the aerobic & circuit.Really hard work so I missed the aerobics & did the stations & often without the weights although only 1kg.The class I am thinking of is mainly stations with 15 min warm up and cool down.Music is lower tempo & I will avoid weights.

I have done online videos from the program a couple of times but they are only 35 or 40 mins .I can always do seated stations if necessary.

Kathy

[baba]

Read this:

healthunlocked.com/redirect...

[kkatz in reply to baba]

Thankyou Baba.I have read this many times.It is a great resource and I have already read this.Looking for a little more & the opinions on here can help a lot.

[PrivateRyan]

I did nothing at all for the first two weeks, other than a little walking, but I started back at the gym after 3 weeks lifting light weights. It's fair to say my energy levels are low, but I'd rather build up gradually than sit back doing nothing. I guess the main thing is to listen to what you're body is telling you i.e don't push too hard too soon.

[Foxey2]

I used to run before AFib, I had an Ablation in October 2021 and was advised by my consultant to not go back to running 😥 as it could bring back the AFib earlier. I now walk fast and lift light weights and although I miss running a lot, my fear of AFib coming back outweighs this as I have a young son I need to be fit and healthy for.

[Jajarunner]

I found I could only manage walking, electric biking and weights for four months after each of mine . They say it takes three months for the heart to heal but my EP said I could exercise after two weeks (obviously I didn't, felt too weak).How about doing half the classic a few weeks time?

[FindingCaradoc]

My EP told me I could return to my normal very active lifestyle over a few weeks after my ablation (with the usual caveats) 😊 - although I believe there is some evidence that exercise can cause AF (and presumably exacerbate it) this is more for extreme endurance athletes - overall it is of course good for physical and mental wellbeing - I hope you regain your confidence and your ablation is a long term success 🤞

[PrivateRyan in reply to FindingCaradoc]

The mental wellbeing aspect is a good call. Exercise of some kind is crucial to me, as I've been active in sport and later weight training all my life. My lack of energy the first time I went back to the gym was worrying, but of course completely normal after an ablation. I'll be happy making tiny steps back to full fitness, and I'm not putting myself under any pressure to get there, just enjoying getting back to the gym.

[jeanjeannie50]

Imagine you've fallen over and now have a very sore knee with a scab forming. Would you keep bending that knee and causing the scab to split. I guess not, so give thought to your heart that is forming scar tissue to block the rogue signals that cause heart arrhythmias. Do you think that over exerting your heart and making it pump harder would have an effect on that scar tissue? I guess it all depends on how quickly you heal, but I would leave as much time as I could before demanding more of my heart. I'd say 6 weeks at least and it sounds as though you're just over that stage now. I'd start with gentle exercise by walking up hills and then gradually build up (you may already have done this). Sessions where exercise is all done at once within hour or two - well I'm not sure that's a good thing just as your heart is healing.

Just my opinion.

Jean

[Desanthony]

Hi, I got back into exercise by doing a Cardiac fitness programme in conjunction with the hospital and local gym. We started off in a small room where a physio from the hospital took the excercise and the cardio nurse took our BP and heart rate a few times during the lesson. Graduating into the actual gym after 2 months and doing supervised exercise in there. I think that was called a Phase 3 course - you will find it very slow if you are already walking and playing bowls. If I was you I would wait maybe until the 3 month mark before adding in more exercise - maybe starting to walk further and eventually walking up hill more before you start any more.

Good Luck.

[Arnobarno]

I don’t know how anyone can really answer this except for themselves. So much of my Afib experience is atypical - I’m one of those “extreme endurance athletes” that got Afib from too much exercise. But what is too much? In my case, I was cycling 8000 miles/year, 750,000 ft climbing a year - all at high altitude (in the Rockies in Colorado). I’d also enter endurance mountain bike races and place well in my age group. I’d regularly road bike 100 miles and climb 10000 feet in a day at a sporting pace - yet there are plenty of people I knew that were stronger, faster and riding more - much more than me.

I started to know something wasn’t right about 4 years ago (when I was 55) but it wasn’t until a year ago that I figured out it was Afib. So, the first thing I tried was detraining. Then meds (even though that seemed unlikely to work). Then an ablation 9 weeks ago by one of the best EPs in the field.

Doctor said no restrictions after a week, but I took the first four weeks doing nothing but walking. Then got back on the bike and have been slowly building up duration and intensity - yesterday rode 50 miles at moderate intensity and felt great.

If you never rode 50 miles before an ablation, I can guarantee that my level of activity is way way too much. If you regularly rode 100 miles at a sporting pace, 50 at a moderate pace seems like a walk in the park. I have no desire to race or do extreme events any more - but there is a lot of gray area between healthy activity levels - 6 hours of moderate activity seems to be the bottom of the J curve for Afib - and “extreme activity”.